Memoirs of an Otaku
by SamuraiKai
Summary: A typical enter your favorite story story. When a girl dies in a car accident, she's given a second chance at life in the Naruto World. These are her adventures, I can't say more without giving too much away. ABANDONED. PLEASE READ FINAL CHAPTER.
1. Part 1: The Hospital

Okay, I know everyone hates me and all, but I'm going to update this story often, on my honor, okay? Even if I don't get many reviews there will be an update at least once a week.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters, but Caruh is mine.

I will put more in here when I have stuff to say, right now, I just hope you like this first chapter.

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Dear Diary,

Life works in funny ways sometimes. I know that there are many people who have wondered what it would be like to enter the dimension of their favorite book or anime. Even many of my old friends used to dream about it, I know I did. I did, until it happened to me. This is my story.

The car shot down the street with torpedo-like speed. Not my car, mind you, the one that passed me because I was going too slow in the express lane. That's when the "accident" happened. Right ahead of me, he had to slam on his breaks and I had no time to react. The driver beside me tried to avoid an accident by swerving into my lane, straight into me, pushing my sweet little white Honda into the oncoming traffic. I had nowhere to go and the truck (because with my luck it would be a truck) in front of me had no time to stop before hitting me head-on. That is the last thing I remember before everything went black.

Through my bodies protests I noticed, however, that I was in what seemed to be a hospital bed and gown. What I hadn't seen coming was the older man leaning over me. His rectangular hat bore a kanji I knew well, and his robes were elegant. What gave it away for me was his face, seeing as how he was old to begin with.

"H-Hokage-sama?"

I think I surprised the poor man, because the second I said those words he jumped back and his hands flew into hand-seals. Trying to keep up with them, and understand what he was doing, gave me a headache, so instead of succumbing to the dream, which was all it could have been I thought back then, I closed my eyes to block it out.

After a few moments of nothing happening I opened one eye and looked at him again. His hands had stopped moving, but were still in the formation of one of his many seals. I hadn't been paying enough attention to know what he'd been attempting to do. With time, and my just staring at him absentmindedly while trying to figure out what was going on, he relaxed his arms. When they'd made it to his side, he studied me.

"I've never seen you before," he spoke, his voice skeptical, "how do you know who I am?"

'Haha, haha,' I laughed to myself. No use telling thim the truth, he'd think I was crazy. Heck, I already knew I was crazy. This was getting ridiculous. So, I opted for a lie. "Umm, I'm related to Hatake Kakashi, and am here because my mother died recently and said he'd take care of me."

Yeah, yeah, blame me for not coming up with a well thought-out lie. I was dead meat if anyone asked Kakashi.

When asked, I politely lied again, stating that I was his grandmother's, aunt's, cousing's adopted daughter, twice removed on his father's side. If you followed that I have to congragulate you. When I originally said it to him, I didn't have any clue what was coming out of my mouth. Then I said my name was Caruh, stolen from a role-play with my best friend, I was sixteen (the sold truth in this jumble of lies) and I was a ninja from Sunagakure, Village Hidden in the Sand.

It was clear he didn't believe me. I knew for a fact he didn't believe me, he'd told me so in our talks since. In fact, even to this day Tsunade-sama teases me about it. That's beside the point however, the point was, I was doomed.

Looking around I noticed that my backpack was on the nightstand by my bed. I looked at it, wondering why it was there, and then decided that it didn't matter. What did matter was that it was there, and that within it was my salvation. I pulled it onto my lap, and the Hokage gave me a strange glance, like he was ready to do signs and attack me. Not that I blamed him, he couldn't see what I was reaching for.

I pulled out the sand hitae-ate that I'd gotten at a con earlier in the month, and showed it to him. (ConAnime Convention, for those that don't know.) Amazingly enough, he took it from my fingers and examined it. Then he nodded, seeming to believe that I was telling the truth. For now.

"So, what happened to you then?" he asked, studying my body. My Raggedy-Ann red hair, tied neatly back in a ponytail that smoothed the curls at least against my skull, and my grey eyes, rather boring if you ask me, were my most prominent features. I was covered in bruises and cuts still, but nothing serious. Before I could answer that question, he asked more. "Why were you lying outside our village nearly dead a few days ago?"

"My mother died," I answered, getting into my story and willing to make it more interesting now. "I heard that Kakashi was here, and he's my last living relative, so I sought him out. On my way here, I was attacked however, by ninjas with poor information, and left to die."

"If you truly are related to Hatake Kakashi, why has he not been here to see you?"

"As I said, I was adopted. My mother didn't talk much of me, she didn't like to talk about it. Actually, I was never truly adopted, I just lived with her. I suppose I'm not really related to Kakashi, however he is the closest thing I have to a relation." There, I'd found a loop-hole, and a good one at that. Oye, but I was making my story less believable. Thank heaven for drama class. I think he believed that story more than the previous one, actually, though not by much.

I should mention that I've been here for a long time since going back and writing my memoirs, and would greatly appreciate it if you'd forgive my incessant desire to refer back to the present instead of sticking with the past until I caught up to where I am now. I will try my best, but my best isn't necessarily going to be enough if I keep that up. Now that I've mentioned that, I will not, will try not to, make it sound like I'm going back and forth. I'll write as if I don't know what the future will bring. Diary, and those who are now reading my memoirs, forgive me if that confused you. I won't talk about now, until I get here.

"If that is true," he said, walking towards the door, "I will get Kakashi then, so he can visit you here, okay?"

"Okay," I answered with a nod, a knot forming in my stomach.

It wasn't but a few minutes that the one-eyed-wonder himself walked in, gracing me with his presence and confusion written all over his face. Er, well, in his one visible eye, his nose and mouth being perpetually covered and his sharingan hidden behind his own leaf hitae-ate. Anyway, there was obvious confusion.

Finally his eye settled on me. "So you're my..." he paused, his eye studying me while he tried to figure out what I supposedly was to him. He decided on, "Relative?"

With a sheepish look on my face, I nodded, ever so slowly.

"And how exactly?"

"You're grandma's aunt's cousing's not-quite adopted daughter twice removed on your father's side," I answered, adjusting my tale to fit what I'd ended up telling the Hokage. I was surprised I could remember all of it though.

"That's impossible, my grandmother's auth didn't have a cousin," he told me, in a tone that said he didn't believe a word I was saying. So what else was new?

What made me laugh lightly was the fact that he knew that. "You know for a fact that your grandmother's aunt didn't have a cousin?" I asked, trying really hard (and failing horribly) to keep a straight face.

"Yes," he answered cautiously, now looking at me like I was from another world. Which, technically, I was. "However, even if she had, that was three generations ago, in the time of the first Hokage. There is no way she would still be young enough, or even alive, to adopt a child. And I'm sure that there is no way she'd raise that child in Hiding in Sand."

Dang, I was caught. Better phrasing of that statement, damn I was caught. I did not want to be caught by Kakashi of all people, it meant I was in deep trouble.

"Okay, I lied," I came straight and said it.

The look he gave me was priceless, yet rather sad. At the time, I knew if I wanted Kakashi's trust or respect ever again I would have to work for it, and work hard. Instead of giving a lecture or anything, however, he asked me to introduce the real me, and explain how I'd known about him.

"You know, it's a funny story." He gave me a cold look. "A story you wouldn't believe."

His eyebrow raised. "Try me."

I did, on the grounds that he didn't go sharing it with everyone. He said he'd see what he could do.

"I'm really from another dimension, where ninjas are a thing of the past, and this world is nothing but a tv show, and a comic book. One that my parents were always annoyed with me for watching and reading, but that's beside the point.

"My real name is Jacqueline, my friends call me Jackie, but I wouldn't mind using a different name while I'm here."

He sat on the bedside, the only time he would do it for a long time (whoops, did it again, sorry), and looked at me. "Okay, so for now, you're my relative. We'll explain everything to the others, when you're ready?"

"Why aren't you telling me to, I don't know, confess? Or commit myself to an insane asylum?"

"Because, for some odd reason, I believe you. And, seeing as the name you gave yourself already was Caruh, why don't we just use that?"

I nodded, now the confused one. His motives wouldn't become clear to me for some time, so I decided just to agree and make my own life easier. A twinkle in his eye told me he understood this, and he was smiling at his advantage. With a sigh I looked at him. "What should I do now?"

"Rest, we'll take care of the rest of it when you are released from the hospital, hopefully tomorrow." A good idea, if I ever heard one.

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	2. Part 2: Kakashi's Apartment

**Sorry it took me so long you guys, but I've been busy with finals and stuff, but I didn't expect it to take me this long! T.T Can you ever forgive me? I graduate on Friday, so I'll try to update by Thursday, I promise I'll try! If not, it'll be on Sunday again I promise! . Thanks you guys, I hope you like it. I'm also sorry that there's still no action, but there will be in the next chapter, you can count on it! I'm going to alter the story some, but not much, on my honor! Well, enjoy!**

**I hope you guys can deal with the fact that there's so much dialogue in this chapter as well, but Kakashi needed to get to know Caruh. It'll get better soon, very soon! PLOTTING Mwahahaha!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or anyone within that world, except Caruh and... well, actually that's it. Don't sue me, the proof is in the pudding. Or in this case, the disclaimer.

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The next time I awoke, it was in a different room. At first glance I though I was back in my own room, the entire hospital affair having been a dream. It wasn't until I looked around a second time that I realized it was just a different room in the hospital. The room wasn't personalized enough to be my room, or anyone's personal bedroom. I was almost sad that I wasn't home, but then I realized that this meant I was still in Naruto. The goods and bads of it. True, Kakashi still didn't trust me, and the Hokage thought I was psychotic, but at least I hadn't given anyone else a reason to dislike me.

Maybe that was unfair, it wasn't that Kakashi disliked me, he'd believed my story after all and was willing to go along with it. It was that he didn't like a person that lied to him right off the bat, and I feel the same way so it wasn't a surprise.

As a matter of fact, it was his voice that woke me out of my thoughts. "I see you're awake," he said quietly, walking towards the bed from the shadows.

"Yes, awake, but not all here," I answered, only telling the truth. I was more interested in thinking about my lack of a home and a family for the joys of being in an anime, than I was about the proper etiquette used with a jounin and the respect they deserved.

He didn't really seem to mind my lack of respect however, and only nodded. "Understandable."

"It is?"

"Perfectly," was his response. He stopped at the bedside. "You're to be released as soon as you wake up, which is now, so we need to go check you out."

Slowly, I slipped my feet over the edge of the bed and then noticed that I wasn't wearing the hospital gown anymore. "When did my clothes get changed?" I asked, looking up at him. "And by whom?"

A laugh escaped his lips, "It wasn't by me, I left the room when the nurse told me to so she could put you in clothes you could actually leave in."

"And where did these clothes come from?"

"How should I know? She just appeared with them, now come on." His voice had hardened slightly, he was losing his patience. I followed, not wanting to get him angry with me. He went through the check-out process for me easily, and then we left.

Following a step behind anyone wasn't really natural to me, so I sped up a little about a block away from the hospital, and I made my way beside him. Without even a sideways glance, he began speaking.

"Caruh, does Sunagakure train its students well?" he asked, and I wondered what he meant. Now he glanced at me, and motioned around him. There were a lot of people, and I laughed at my own stupidity. There were a lot of people, he wasn't about to ask about a different world or dimension with all these people around him. It would cause quite a stir, for sure.

"Indeed, they do, I could show you," I answered, and I don't think that was quite what he'd expected my answer to be.

"I see, and what do you know?" He was playing a game now, because I'd given him the perfect opening. I couldn't blame him, I had answered just enough to make him curious what I really did know.

"Enough." Again, not the answer he had been looking for, but I hadn't been trying to give him what he'd been looking for. All I'd been trying to do was make up a story so that the people in the street wouldn't think I was totally nuts. They all probably knew about mine and Kakashi's supposed relations. If we didn't at least act like we were trying to get to know each oter people would become suspicious. One thing I didn't need right now was suspicion from the villagers of Konoha.

Eventually he stopped in front of an apartment door, and reached into his pocket to get keys.

"Your place?" I asked, breaking the silence. He merely nodded, and unlocked the door, stepping aside to let me walk in first. Quite a gentleman. "Thank you, Kakashi-san."

"You're welcome," he said. Once we were inside, he sat on a couch, throwing his keys on a coffee table and put his feet up on the same table. "Now, we need to discuss some things."

"We do?"

"Yes. Now first of all, we are technically related, as far as everyone else is concerned. Therefore, you cannot act like we aren't."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, confused by his wording.

"Treat me like you would your uncle at home, wherever that is."

"Only one problem," I told him, "I'm pretty introverted, and when my uncle's there so are a lot of other people, so I usually say hi and then don't say anything else. I let them start the conversations, and usually don't talk much even when they do. I just feel uncomfortable."

He raised an eyebrow, and then blinked. "How rude of me, sit down Caruh, or should I call you Jackie when we're alone?"

"Caruh is fine," I answered, sitting on a chair across from him. "I don't want to be Jackie anymore, not while I'm here. She had problems that I don't want to take with me if I don't have to. Caruh is a new person, let's keep it that way."

Nodding, he went on. "So, you've never been alone with an uncle?"

"I have with aunts, but not with uncles unless my aunt is there."

"Then think of me as an aunt instead."

I couldn't help but start laughing at that. "Oh I can see it now!" I giggled, forcing myself to calm down. "Auntie Kakashi, please help me with this dress! It just refuses to zip!" Such a show was made of it that one could almost see the smile gracing his lips even beneath the mask. It would be needed of course, I could see the twinkle in his eye that he didn't need to show me his mouth.

"So, now that that's been settled," he went on, a laugh in his voice. "What all do you know about me and this world then?"

"I know about your sharingan, and about... wait..."

"Hmm?"

"What have you done with your cell so far?"

"We got back from the fight with Zabuza a few days ago, why?"

That was depressing to hear, I wouldn't ever get to meet Haku. With a sigh, I nodded. "I know about that, and all about kyuubi and Naruto. I know about your love for Ichaicha Paradise." He stopped me there, apparently uncomfortable with the fact that I knew that many details.

"And you said as we were walking over here that you knew some abilities," he noted, changing the subject ever so subtley. Or attempting to anyways.

"I lied for the sake of the people in the streets," I told him, and he cocked his head at me before sighing.

"Are you a chronic liar, Caruh?"

"Not usually," I promised, "I just don't know what to say around here."

"The truth is usually the best choice. I may believe your insane story about another world, but I have my own reasons for doing so. I do not like that you have lied to me about nearly everything else. How do I know that everything else you've said to day was true?"

"You have to trust me, at least I've confessed to my lies. I'm sorry Kakashi-san, it's just that I didn't want the people to get suspicious of my knowing nearly nothing. I am, however, decent at taijutsu, as my friend's and I trained together all the time."

Another nod. "Very well, perhaps tomorrow-"

He was interrupted as the door flung open and Naruto ran in. "Kakashi-sensei! We've been called out for a mission!" he yelled, and only then did he notice me.

"Naruto, allow me to introduce my relative, Hatake Caruh." I blushed lightly and bowed to him. He returned it hurriedly and then ran to whisper into Kakashi's ear, glancing at me occassionally.

When he was finished, Kakashi's eyes were wide. He turned me, "Forgive me for cutting this short Caruh, I promise to make it up to you, but we are needed right now." I nodded and the two of them ran out, leaving me stranded in Kakashi's living room.

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**You guys dying for the next chapter when there'll be a fight scene and Caruh will get to make first contact with her chakra? Well, you have to wait! BWAHAHA! But not for very long, so cheer! claps Much clapping! bows Arigatou and ja minna!**


	3. Part 3: Battlefield

**A/N: Hey, it's me again. I hate doing this, but I'm sorry. I'm horrible, and a week late. In apologies, you will get two chapters next week, so keep an eye out. This one isn't my best writing, and if you complain enough, I might rewrite it, or edit it better. I hope you like it though, I tried. And had to work through some killer writer's block. My chapter's are going to get longer too. Keep in touch, I love your opinions, good or bad. Thanks guys, and I hope you don't kill me for a major cliff-hanger.**

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It was only about three minutes after they had left that I realized something. I was bored. A couch, even an apartment, wasn't enough to amuse me for long. In that three minutes I'd turned on the TV, realized I wasn't in the mood to watch TV, turned it off, wandered the place and got familiar with it, sat back down and turned the TV on and off again. That was when I'd made my monumental discovery.

As far as I was concerned I needed to go find interesting things to do, or at least something interesting to do. Going to the market was out of the question, I had no money. Well, none of their money. I had $11.46, but that was American money, and not going to do me any good.

Then it hit me, and I wondered how I could possible be so stupid. I mean, really, safety or not, how did the idea of following Kakashi and Naruto not enter my head until right now? Five perfectly good minutes of my life wasted, and I wasn't about to lose another one. Quickly, I ran out the door, asked the person nearest to me which way they went, and followed their directions. I saw them not long after, waiting by the northern gate; exactly where the person I'd asked said they would be.

Funny thing, after a moment of thinking about it, I realized that I'd never heard of such a mission as to the one they appeared to be going on. Kakashi would kill me if he realized what I was doing, but it was worth it to figure out what was going on and maybe learn something interesting in the process. So sue me, I wasn't about to let them have all the fun even if all I knew was taijutsu.

I ran up to them, knowing I wouldn't be able to trail them silently. Kakashi, as expected, glanced at me and glared.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, not happy to see me there.

"Going with you."

"Oh no you're not."

"Stop me," I demanded, which was a stupid thing to do. Next thing I knew, everything was black again. Arguing with a jounin wasn't the smartest thing I'd ever attempted, but don't think that meant I was down for the count. My stamina kicked in about three minutes later, as he hadn't hit my pressure point very hard, and I sat up quickly. I was annoyed to realize that they'd left without me, especially once I realized I'd only been unconscious for such a short amount of time.

In that case, I was going to go find my own adventure. I decided to walk towards the southern gate, and was pleasantly surprised when I caught the guards talking while switching shifts. The perfect time to get out and I took it. Just have to wait until another switch in shifts to get back in now. Hopefully I didn't die in the meantime.

In the forests beyond Konohagakure, I found plenty of animals to wrestle with, but nothing of too much interest. Not until I was heading back a few hours later anyways.

I guess you wouldn't believe that I actually did get ambushed by ninjas on my way back. Three to be exact, all of them Sound ninjas. The three that worked for Orochimaru, and me with my hitae-ate. That explains why they attacked, but not how capable I was of fighting back.

When Zaku Abumi ran at me, I seriously just jumped away from him. What other choice did I have? I wasn't about to get blasted by sound waves, I wasn't suicidal. Then the fight took a voluble turn for the worse.

Dosu Kinuta lunged at me from behind, and I wasn't fast enough. He tackled me to the ground and left me, basically, defenseless. Kin Tsuchi stepped forward, looking me dead in the eyes, and then laughed.

"Dosu, she has no chakra," she mocked.

He corrected her quickly, "She has a lot, an unusual amount in fact, but no connection to it."

"Yeah, yeah," Zaku muttered, walking over and hovering above me. "So, what do we do with her?"

I struggled in Dosu's arms, trying to pull away but to no avail. "How about, absolutely nothing!" I shouted above their talk, and they all looked at me. Rather uncomfortable I have to say. "I mean," I adjusted, "you could just mosey on into the Leaf Village and prepare for the Chuunin Exams like everyone else…?"

"You're funny," Kin laughed, and then she squatted beside me. I turned my head to look into her eyes, and she… well, just continued to stare. "As long as you're out here, without your team, little Sand Ninja, you're all ours. Less competition."

Put that way, it made sense, but still of the numerous roles I didn't like to play, innocent victim was high up on that list. Her words managed one thing though, to rile me up into fighting. Which was probably exactly what they wanted. With a well-placed kick, I swung Dosu off of me and a few feet away, before going into a back handspring and flipping to my feet a few feet in the opposite direction.

They gave me odd glances, but I stood my ground as Kin took the next attack. She was fast, but admittedly I knew all of their weaknesses already. Actually, that's a lie. The only one I knew the weaknesses of was Zaku, and breaking his arms wasn't going to work. I couldn't get close enough to him if I wanted to, and really, how could I deny Sasuke such a treat? Though, he did get the curse seal. I sigh, tradeoffs.

This left me with basically two options. Fight or flee, the basic instincts. My flee drive had been off for a while now though, I was here to stay, at least until the fight was done. As she got close, I lunged towards her, prepared for the worst. She was caught off-guard and only dodged, leaving me to trip and land straight in the arms of Zaku. A blast of noise made my ears and nose begin to bleed. It wasn't stopping, and I was getting desperate. My body was losing control, and the next thing I knew I was on my knees.

Shutting my eyes tightly, I concentrated. Really, I was losing consciousness and my nerve, things were bad. Then, suddenly, it stopped and I wasn't in agonizing pain anymore. Talk about a fairy tale ending.

I stood up, and noticed that there were little sparks of light at my finger-tips. My chakra has never done that since, and I can only guess it was because I had just unlocked it. I had no idea how to use it though, so it did me no good. All I managed was an instinctual blocking of the noise that was bothering my ears and the rest of me.

Only later did I realize that this wasn't a normal accomplishment, actually, someone told me. Beside the point, I'd done enough to get them off of my back for a while. Not that it was a happy parting, for me anyways.

"Poor weakling," Zaku laughed, walking past me. And Kin Tsuchi merely laughed while walking away. The only one that paid me any decent amount of respect, not that I really deserved it, I was pathetic at that point, was Dosu, and all he did was nod. Then he left with them.

A few hours later, I walked back into Kakashi's apartment, and he was sitting on the couch, glaring at me. "And where have you been young lady?"

"Sorry daddy," I muttered, wanting to glare. "Forgive me for staying out past curfew."

"Not amusing," was all he said in response, and I didn't bother to give him the time of day by looking at him.

"So, she's the one?" a different voice broke-in. I looked over and saw another figure by Kakashi, not taking their eyes from me. The figure was hidden in shadows however, so I couldn't make out facial features. All I had to go by was a voice. Then Kakashi answered.

"Yes, my niece."

"I see." A feminine voice, one I knew I should recognize. Standing, the figure walked over to me, and I sighed. Depressing though it was, Sakura was the one standing before me. I wanted to cry, how did I not recognize her in all of this? I thought I was good with this anime.

Then again, I avoided the anime like the plague most of the time, and preferred the manga. So, it wasn't too much of a surprise I didn't know voices very well. Sakura's I should have known though, that should have been so obvious.

"Nice to meet you," she smiled, holding out a hand.

I shook it, and looked at Kakashi. "I feel the same," was my only response. I didn't take my eyes off of Kakashi however.

"There is one other thing you need to see, Caruh," he said, and walked out of the house, obviously wanting us to follow. We did, and he led us again to the edge of the village. "Our mission," he stated, pointing. I looked over, and on the grounds in chains, was Haku.

The stress of the day was too much, and I thought I was hallucinating. All I could think was, "Wha-?"

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**Hate me yet? This is, yes, my worse cliffie thus far. But you'll get another chapter soon, so it'll make sense. Thanks guys!**


	4. Part 4: The Forest

**OMG! You all seriously hate me now, don't you? Well, technically this is still better than what I've done in the past, but that's no excuse. How do I always manage to break my promises? I don't know, but for the last time, I will promise to try to update at least once a week, twice next week to make up for not having updated in so long. Even though I work so much next week, I will make time. Even when I go back to school (college for the first time) I will make time, no one will ever be able to stop me. I just hope this story is worth it, let me know if it is okay?**

**I've been on vacation all week, and the week before, but no excuse because it's been so long. Well, I'm in love (with a lot of things, but not a guy) and have suddenly hit inspiration. So, hopefully you'll like what's to come, because it's probably not going to be what you expect.**

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I sat and stared at the body lying at my feet, and then lifted my chin to face the man who had brought me here. Haku was unconscious, looking dead, with the wound from Kakashi's attack still in his shoulder. His chest was, incredibly, rising and falling, something that was not supposed to happen. I looked at the boy again, and then towards the man once again. 

The longer I looked at him, the more apparent it became that I was not going to get an answer without asking my question. Thus, with a sigh, I asked, "Why did you bring me here?"

"Why not?" Well, there was the answer of a lifetime. In fact, it wasn't an answer at all; it was another question, which helped me not at all.

I sighed, and rolled my eyes. "Kakashi, give me an actual answer."

"You are here because you said you know something about what is supposed to happen in this story. Therefore, can you tell us what is going on?" When he looked at me, he seemed so sincere, so I decided this was the truth. It made sense, after all.

"Honestly?" I asked, and he nodded in silence. Ignoring the fact that Sakura was there and had no idea what was going on or why I knew what was supposedly happening, I told him, "No, I don't know what's going on. He's supposed to be dead, he never comes back. Zabuza died beside him, or was supposed to. Don't tell me Zabuza's still alive?"

"No, Zabuza is dead, very dead this time. He doesn't get to come back to life after all of that, but Haku is alive. Not well, but alive. So you do not know why he's here now?"

"Kakashi-san, I do not know why Haku is alive after you shoved your fist through him when trying to kill Zabuza. I am sorry that I can't offer you more help than that, but perhaps you should explain to your student why I know so much about that mission when I wasn't there," I offered, with an innocent smile. He turned to Sakura, who stood there stunned and confused.

As he realized what had just happened in front of her, he tried to think of some way to talk himself out of this mess. I was not in the mood to listen while he tried to cover for his mistake. So I wandered off, ignoring him when he tried to get my attention.

Later, not much later because Kakashi basically came up with some stupid lie and came racing after me, I was being dragged back to Haku. I sat down in front of the unconscious boy, waiting for some type of explanation from Kakashi. This time it came without prompting. "We brought him back, because we didn't know what else to do. He dug himself out of the grave, and then collapsed again. This time, when he wakes up, he is going to know that Zabuza is dead. What happens then, we have no idea. I wanted you to come out here because you have some experience and some knowledge of these people that we don't have."

"What did you tell Sakura?"

A sigh penetrated the momentary silence following my question, and then an answer. "Caruh, please, don't change the subject."

"It was merely a question Kakashi-san," I told him, not taking my eyes off of the chained boy in front of me.

"I told her that you were partially psychic and could read people by looking at them."

"And she bought that?" This time, I actually did turn around and look at him. I was shocked she could be fooled by so simple a lie, but the truth was right there before me. She was the ditz I'd always thought she was; she believed that I was psychic. I sighed in disbelief, and then tried my best to avoid conversation until it was absolutely necessary.

Which apparently it was, only five minutes later.

"Caruh, what happened before you woke up here?"

I wasn't going to give him any answer except silence. Partially because I was annoyed, but just as much because I didn't really remember what had happened.

With a sigh, he brushed off my non-answer for the time, and lifted the unconscious boy into his arms and walked to a tree somewhere out in the middle of the mass of hundred year old oaks. In seconds, Haku was chained to a tree and I noted that he would have a lot more than Zabuza to complain about once he woke up. The pain that would be in his arms alone would be murder. I hated this, but not nearly as much as I hated what came next, which caught me by even more surprise.

"Come on, he's fine there, let's go." Those were Kakashi's words as he looked at the young man he'd chained to an oak, and they cut my heart to shreds. He sounded so cruel talking like that, I wanted to scream at him to find a heart. In his eye, though, I noticed something, a fleck of appreciation and regret for how things had to turn out. Therefore, when he turned to leave, I followed him without question.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked, curious and worried about Haku. Looking back, the sight of Haku's nearly dead form chained so helplessly to the tree sent chills through me.

"_We_ are not going to do anything. I am going to go train my team, and _you_ are going back to my apartment. This time," he added, with a glance towards me saying that he didn't trust me, "stay there."

"Aye, aye, captain," I answered sarcastically, but I did as he said. In fact, this time I managed to make it six whole minutes in the apartment before leaving again. I took with me a small bag of food for the one I was going to visit, and made my way towards the trees once again.

When I found the tree I'd been looking for, I sat down in front of it, and stared at the still unconscious Haku. Laying the food out before me, I leaned back, resting on my elbows and looking up at the sky as it turned to dusk through the leaves. This marked, the end of my first official day in Konohagakure, the first day I was awake the whole way through it. A lot had happened, but more was to come. The day, as I was about to find, was far from over.

The peaceful silence was soon shattered by the shouted words, "Zabuza's dead! You killed him! You did it!" Looking over, I watched as Haku went into what can only be described as a fit. He started flailing his chained arms and legs, trying desperately to break the bonds binding him, and I wanted more than anything to help him.

As it turned out, he didn't need help. With the sound of a snap and chains falling to the ground, I realized that Haku was hurling himself at me. I was frozen in place, but as his hands brushed my neck I was finally able to move again and managed to drop and roll away. This time when I looked up, I was too scared to do anything except stare. I scooted further away, but was rather shocked to see that Haku was holding a sterling silver chain with a sword replica of the same metal in his hand. My hand shot immediately to my neck and noticed that what was supposed to be there, wasn't. He hadn't been reaching for my neck, he'd been reaching for my necklace.

Suddenly, I realized why he wanted it so badly. Squirming the rest of the way out of the chains so he was free of them, he held it over his wrist. Then, with a quick flick, he tried to shove the dull, artificial weapon into his veins. He was horribly desperate to join Zabuza if he was resorting to this so quickly. With a quick kick to the hand that was holding the necklace I sent it flying, to land a few feet away. I was not going to allow him to die on me, no way on earth! Especially not a suicide!

He looked at me, and then tried repeatedly to find other ways of killing himself. First, he drew some of his own senbon needles, and I had to allow them to pierce my hand in order to get them away from him. Then, he decided he was so desperate that he was going to try suffocating himself. Obviously that didn't work, and he came to realize how futile it was he released his own throat only to go into a jutsu aimed solely at himself, which I barely had a moment to dispel with my own chakra. I had no idea how I managed that, but it worked out well enough. Not only did I dispel it, but apparently there was enough force behind it to send him back into unconsciousness.

Before I knew what was going on, Kakashi was there with Iruka, both of them leaning over Haku. Kakashi looked up at me, his eye telling me that we had much to discuss, and I was rather annoyed that he was mad at me. Still, he looked me over, and asked, with a hint of concern in his voice, if I was alright.

"Oh, I'm okay, all things considered," I responded, showing him my hand. With a nod, and seeing that all I had was a flesh wound, the two of them carried Haku off, Kakashi actually carrying Haku and Iruka following to make sure they made it back (which was ridiculous, of course they were going to make it back, no one was insane enough to try to take on Kakashi). It was clear what direction they were headed, to the Hokage's place.

I picked up my necklace and raced off after them. Clearly, they had come when they'd heard Haku's shouts and had made it in time only to see me use my chakra. That was just lovely.

By the time I got there, they had already locked him in a cage with his arms and legs chained down so he couldn't hurt himself anymore. I didn't like this one bit, but before I had a chance to protest Kakashi had me cornered.

"Caruh, why didn't you tell me you'd unlocked your chakra?" he demanded.

"You didn't ask, now did you?" I answered.

Rolling his eyes, he grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me off to a training field. "You are going to learn how to control it."

"Why? I did pretty well back there," was my weak protest.

We stopped in the middle of a field, and he turned. "Then prove to me that you know what you're doing." He started seals and I knew I was doomed if I let him finish that jutsu. As soon as he released the fire-type jutsu, I could only cover my head with my hands and scream. The barrier that surrounded me, protected me from attack, and I looked up rather sheepishly.

"Okay," I admitted, "I have no idea what I'm doing, but somehow when I panic it makes itself work."

He nodded, and gave a simple, "I see." I was going to say more when he added, "It looks like we're spending the rest of the night training."

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**Well, can you guys ever forgive me? I don't know if I would ever be able to forgive me if I were you, but I'm begging! ON MY KNEES! Please enjoy it, it'll never take this long again.**

**By the way, in case you haven't picked up on it yet, it's kind of like a continuous writing, she doesn't write Diary at the beginning of every entry, just picks up where she left off last. I just needed to clear that up, so get excited, the next one will be out by Friday, on my HONOR!**


	5. Part 5: The Practice Field

**Guess what? I'm back, and not even a week late this time. Well, school starts Monday, but I'll try to keep updating with as much regularity as possible, fair enough? Thanks, okay guys, talk to you soon, and please enjoy the chapter. P.S. I don't own Naruto, or any of its characters, but I do own Caruh. Well, keep that in mind and ask before using her for anything (not that many people would, but it's there.) Anyways, onto the story and the funness!

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The moon was high in the sky by the time I collapsed to my knees from exhaustion. The world was spinning and the only thing I can recollect was Kakashi lifting me gently and carrying me back to the apartment. This could only mean that practice was over for the night. I finally fell asleep as he carried me, the feeling of the gentle steps swaying and lulling me out of consciousness.

By the time I woke up, the sun had replaced the moon in the sky. After a quick look around, and some stretches, it was clear that I was home alone, again. Eight minutes later… Boredom abounded, and the clock struck noon as I walked out and onto the street. I was getting better indeed.

As the Hokage's came into view I realized where I was going. My feet and mind had led me here, to Haku's prison. I stepped inside and was greeted by the Hokage himself, asking me how I was doing. I answered that all was as well as could be expected after having my first late night practice, and he laughed lightly at that. It was quite satisfying, seeing him smile.

"So, what's brought you here?"

"Haku," I answered, holding up a lunchbox. "I brought lunch with me, so you don't have to worry about it."

"Is half of that for Haku?"

I nodded, and he smiled before leading me into a room hidden in a corner. Haku was chained there, still in the cage. My heart wrenched, but I thanked the Hokage and made my way towards him. The door shut behind me as I was kneeling in front of the snarling boy. He was angry at me for not allowing him to die, it was clear there in his eyes.

"What do you want from me now?" he demanded, glaring down at me.

"To share lunch?" I offered, showing him the food I'd packed in my eight minutes of being in the apartment.

"I won't eat it, you shouldn't even have come here."

I was rather sad to heart that, but I looked up at him. "Haku, why are you being like this? I saved your life."

"No," was his rather narcissistic response, "You ruined my death."

There was no point in arguing with that, it was true after all. He had wanted to die, and I'd stopped him rather forcefully. Still, it made me mad, that he was so bent about being alive. He couldn't even imagine life without Zabuza, and therefore it wasn't worth living. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?" I snapped, looking up at him with a look that was far from friendly. He looked at me, confused and caught off-guard. His eyes showed that this wasn't what he was expecting. "I'm sorry for thinking that you may find something else to live for besides being a tool!" I stood and made eye contact with him once again, before turning. Once I reached to door, I looked back at him. "Enjoy lunch," I muttered, before walking through the door. I shut it and leaned against it, sighing. Understanding why he was acting that way wasn't the hard part, it was figuring out how to get past it that would prove to be difficult.

"Caruh?" I looked up at the sound of a voice I recognized, the Hokage's. He was sitting behind his desk, and looking at me oddly. "Is everything alright?"

"No," I answered, "no, everything is not all right. Haku is hostile, and he hates me, and I don't know what to do about it. I li-" I had to stop myself. Who in their right mind admits to lying? Not me, not right now.

This doesn't matter in the long run, he finishes the confession. "You lied to me? Is that what you mean?" My ears and cheeks get warm as I blush from embarrassment at being found out. Nodding, he smiles at me. "I know. I know, and it's okay." He didn't have to say any more than that, I understood. Gracing me with another smile, he pointed towards the door. "Kakashi and his team are in the eastern training field, they're waiting to meet you."

I knew a dismissal when I heard one, and he was kind about it. So, I left with a calm good-bye and made my way towards the grounds. Walking up, it became obvious they were just sitting down to lunch, and I was reminded that I hadn't gotten any as I'd left it on the floor in front of Haku.

After a moment, Kakashi waved his wrist, making a motion for me to join them. I knew these three, but I didn't know what I was walking into. Besides, they'd already started eating lunch, and were now staring as I walked up.

"Uhhhh, hi?" If there ever was an uncomfortable silence it was now.

"Obviously you have a moral objection to staying in the apartment."

"Well the only thing in your apartment is dirty books, and I'm not about to read those."

Okay maybe now was that uncomfortable silence, but at least I got him to stop talking.

"Besides, I almost made it ten minutes this time." My mistake, suddenly he was talking again.

"That's an improvement."

"Who is that, sensei?" Sakura asked, looking between me and Kakashi.

Naruto didn't even bother with the formalities; he went straight to the source. "Who are you?"

Sasuke just glanced at me then went back to lunch.

"Name's Caruh," I answered, looking at Kakashi. I would let him finish the explanation.

"She's my niece, in a way," he answered

"I'm adopted, well kind of adopted."

"What's that mean?"

"It means we aren't really related."

"Exactly," was the calm response.

"So why is she here?" Sakura looked at me again.

"That's a good question," Kakashi responded, looking at me. "Why are you here?"

"Lunch?"

"You know, there was food in the apartment, right next to the dirty books."

"... I don't know where those books have been."

"I wouldn't want to eat it either."

"Naruto!" the pink-haired one admonished. I laughed.

Sitting down, I joined them for lunch, where there was much chatter about nothing. Sakura went on and on about boys. Sasuke looked annoyed, as always, and sat in silence. Naruto just talked, about Sakura, his dream of becoming the Hokage, and pretty much everything else he could think of. Including how well his training was going.

"Speaking of training," Kakashi mentioned as Naruto finished his sentence, "it's time we got back to it."

"Let's go," Naruto shouted in great eagerness. To which Kakashi glanced at him, probably smiling, and they got right to work. I sat and watched, feeling a little left out, but enjoying myself nonetheless.

After a few moments, Naruto ran over to me, and grabbed me by the wrist. He dragged me over to where they were practicing, laughing the whole way. "Come on Caruh! Practice with us!"

I looked at Kakashi, to make sure this was okay with him, and after a nod in my direction, I passed it along to Naruto. He smiled at the affirmative I gave him, and he decided that he and I would train. I agreed with that, and even though I knew I didn't stand a chance we went at it anyways. I lost, of course, in the end, but I learned many valuable things from that one fight. For one, I learned to avoid Naruto's shadow clones, I knew of them of course, but not how to deal with them. I would figure that out later, but for now avoiding them was best. Also I learned that an easy way to deal with his kunai were to not have to. The boy was much better than the show gave him credit for, even if he was a bit hopeless in the maturity department.

Right after that, Kakashi decided to work on jutsus, probably mostly for my benefit, but it was something. I slowly learned about the different signs again, and how to put them together to create an attack that could really help me in battle.

By the end of practice, I was pooped, but not enough to give up on doing something afterwards. When Kakashi invited me to wander the marketplace with him I agreed, and helped him go shopping so there would be food not next to the dirty books.

I wonder if this meant he thought I would stay in the apartment for longer than ten minutes. Probably not, I'm sure that he knew me better than that by that point. He couldn't possibly think some extra food would solve my moral dilemma, if that's what it truly was. By the time we were done, I was ready to go to bed. Chakra was still new to me, and it took concentration and effort to control, two things I couldn't afford to waste at a time like this.

Back at his apartment, I help him to unpack all of his groceries, constantly asking where things go. I can stay here for quite a while with company, which I hadn't been allowed before.

As we were settling into sleep, Kakashi looked at me from across the room, where I decided I would sleep. "You're never going to last more than ten minutes in this house are you?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Not without at least a bit of company, which your books and tv don't allow," I answer, meeting his gaze over the floor.

"In that case," he announces, "you're joining the team. Not officially, but just to come along, and do what you can. During missions, you are there to learn, not to fight, so you are going to be protected until you can prove you're capable of standing on your own. You are always to come to our practices."

I'm across the room before he even finishes. With a big hug, I beam. "Thank you Kakashi! Thank you!"

He hugs me back, though rather unsure, and answers with, "You're welcome, I guess." I can tell he's confused by my reaction, he probably thought I would be too lazy to actually join and just wanted to practice. Oh well, I was going to prove myself in his eyes, if no one else's.

With that thought, I crawled back into my bed, my heart warmed and comforted, and fell into an easy sleep, even knowing my sensei's eyes were on me.


	6. Part 6: The Bench

Here it is, finally! The long awaited sixth chapter! Wow, I thought I was further than this... sorry guys. Been having life troubles. Anyways, here it is, enjoy!!

Again, DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANYTHING NARUTO RELATED!!! Only Caruh, Jatchi and Sae are mine!

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The next few weeks flew by, a blur of practice, little missions and late nights with Haku and Kakashi. True to his word, I was still not allowed to partake in missions, and someone was always at my side to keep me safe if there was even the slimmest chance of danger. Honestly, it was annoying, but it made sense. There was never any chance for me to prove I was worthy of joining them and therefore I was stuck on the outside, which kept Kakashi comfortable. 

Kakashi didn't like the idea of me talking to Haku as much as I did, but I could tell that there was a chance for change in him. Haku, that is. They had moved him out of the cage by then and into a small room with much longer chains. He had, at least, stopped trying to kill himself. Kakashi was having a hard time adjusting to having one of his students blatantly ignore his wishes. In fact, my hardest times in that month, apart from training, were the nights with Kakashi, while I listened to him lecture. I listened, sure, but not very closely.

One time, I actually argued back and told him that it wasn't his place to judge Haku. I knew Haku better than he ever could, and I knew that Haku was changing. He was trying, which was more than I could say for Kakashi. All that really got me, though, was a really hard time in practice the next day as punishment, and silence for a few days to follow. I consequently began to spend most of my nights with Haku. This did not make matters any better. Not surprisingly, it made things worse as far as my relationship with Kakashi.

Not that there was much of a relationship to speak of, he was so furious with me all the time, and I thought practice would kill me a few times, just like my cardio classes back in high school. This, however, was much more difficult. And I'd be hard-pressed to explain why if you didn't already know.

The chakra control was the worst at first, until I remembered that Naruto went to Sakura for help earlier in the series, and so I decided to do the same. She gave me some really good tips, and I used them to improve. Slowly at first, but I did improve to the point that I could mimic Kakashi's casual stroll up the trunk of the tree by the time of Chunin exams. Of course, that took time, and in that time I learned many other things as well.

The other difference this practice had with all of the other courses I took to stay healthy was that, in this case, it was life or death and not just points or for fun. In kendo all I had to do was hit the other person with a wooden sword, here getting that close meant death in most cases. In karate, the goal was to be seen to fight up front with the opponent. In ninjutsu, the art of it all was to stay hidden. To kill, to attack, to accomplish the goal, generally from the shadows, or to make sure not to get so close as to be in trouble for it. A ninja's most effective weapons from the shadows, the shuriken and the kunai, were my two least favorite tools to use. Mostly, this is because I have horrible aim. Or, perhaps I should say, had horrible aim. With all of the extra training I'd been getting as punishment, I was improving quickly.

The chounin exams were coming soon, and I had to be prepared. Kakashi was making sure of this to the best of his ability.

One night, while I was talking to Haku, I brought up how hard practices had been and he reminded me of what his life had been like. All of a sudden, I felt bad for complaining, so I changed the subject and asked how things had been going for him. He told me that the Hokage and some of the other jounin had been spending time with him as well, and that he was beginning to see them as people, and not necessarily as the enemy. I was, however, the only one that he saw as even close to a friend. This was an improvement over before and I was glad to hear it. When I told him so, he slightly smiled and nodded.

"I'm glad you think so, because I am trying to move on."

This made me so glad I hugged him without thinking, but he didn't even try to push me off. He even hugged me back ever so slightly. I smiled and sat back, and we continued to talk late into the night about what he meant exactly by that phrase.

By the time I got back to the apartment I could have sworn Kakashi was asleep, but as I settled into my bed I guess he must have woken up. As I was getting comfortable, he spoke, "So, where have you been?"

"Where do you think?" I asked, shutting my eyes, hoping he'd leave me alone. A false hope.

"Stop talking to him," were the next words to come out of his mouth.

"A bit cold-hearted, are we?" I asked sarcastically, irritated.

"I'm worried about you, Caruh."

"Well, find something else to worry about, there is nothing wrong with me talking to him. Therefore, there is nothing that will be able to stop me." The last thing I wanted was to lay there and argue with Kakashi, so I turned around to face the wall. In all honesty, the man can be as dense as any other man. Being a ninja didn't help him at all in this matter.

"Caruh, he'll hurt you. He's already tried to, and you won't get away unscathed next time."

"I didn't get away unscathed last time," I shot back, indicating the scar on my hand.

Shaking his head, he answered, "I mean deeper than that, worse."

"Oh? So getting an acupuncture needle shoved all the way through my hand to keep him from killing himself wasn't bad enough?" I growled, agitated.

"It was bad, Caruh, that's not what I meant," he paused. Then he went on, with a sigh, "I meant an emotional scar. That it would traumatize you like nothing else would."

"How weak do you think I am?!" I shouted, infuriated. Sitting up, I looked at him angrily, and he was looking back at me. My emotions got the better of me, so I stood up and, instead of staying to talk it over I walked out, indignant. His eyes were on me the whole way.

Walking the streets of Konoha, I thought about what was said. In his defense, without knowing Haku now his points would have some validity. What made me mad was that he refused to even give him a chance. I sat at a bench in the park and just thought while the night passed.

Eventually, my mind drifted back to what I'd officially dubbed, at that point, my "past-life", or my life before coming to Konoha. A few moment specific memories came to mind: my first crush, my first time getting dumped, and the one time I was traumatized by a guy. They were all the same person, in fact.

His name was Aden. He was every girl's dream, but believe me, he was my worst nightmare by the time we were through. I met him at an arcade, a year before I came here, and we hit it off right away. That's how it always is, isn't it? Things start out so perfectly, but then… well, I'm getting ahead of myself. He asked me out the next day, what could I say but yes? I had a crush before I had any idea what was going on, and the next thing I knew, we were "in love". At least, I thought I was in love.

I thought life was perfect, until one night a few months later when I was at home alone, and he came over. He had said it was just to talk, so we snuggled up on the couch and words started flowing. When he told me how much he was in love with me, I felt so thrilled, and thought I would do anything for him. That was, of course, his plan. The next words out of his mouth were, "Let me prove it to you."

Slowly, sensually, his hand moved from my shoulders down my back and around my sides to my stomach. Down they went, caressing around my uterus and back around to my thighs. A thrill of danger raced through me, and I quickly pulled back from him. All I got in response to my reaction, was a smirk before I hit the floor with him on top of me. As much as I tried to get out of his grip, he was too strong, and he knew about my ninja obsession, so he had learned how to keep me immobile even as I used every trick I could think of. Then again, my mind was shutting down with fear, so I wasn't thinking too well as it was.

Before I could come up with anything to help me, my pants were down and he was there, trying to ignite some passion in me. While passion sparked, so did fear and disgust, and those won out. I screamed, as loudly as I could, tears forming in my eyes, but he only laughed. That was when I thought of the one thing that had kept me pure. Twisting my body, I quickly forced him off balance, and then shoved when he wasn't stable. He fell off of me, and I stood as quickly as I could, pulling my pants back up as I ran.

The only words out of his mouth as I ran up to my room and locked the door were, "You damn prude! Don't expect anyone to love you!!" That was the worst, but he added to it by telling all of his friend's. Generally, I didn't care what people thought, but now I was the perfect prude, which meant that every guy wanted to break that little bubble I'd supposedly built around myself. It was hell trying to avoid all of them, but somehow I managed it, and somehow they left me alone after a while, for the most part. He never spoke to me again after that night.

A second weight on my bench snapped me out of my memories, and with watery eyes I looked over to see who it was. A man I'd never seen before sat next to me, judging me up from his seat beside me. I was too tired to move, but I was confused and a bit worried. His outfit, the cloak hiding his face and most of the rest of him cast shadows on what was visible, making him seem extremely creepy.

"Who are you?" I asked, scooting away from him.

He chuckled lightly, before responding, "Viden Jatchi, at your service." His voice was rough and deep, but quiet. After that, he went silent again, and all I could do was guess at what he was thinking.

Instead of just staring, I asked another question, "Why are you here?"

"You looked like you could use some comfort, a shoulder to cry on," he shrugged.

Looking up at the sky now, I answered, "You don't seem like the comforting kind."

Another laugh caused me to turn to him again. "I can be, you'll see."

"I'll see what?" I demanded, but he stood and shook his head. "I'm here if you need anything, you can find me at this bench, or wait here and I'll find you. In the meantime, go back home, I'm sure someone's worried about you."

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Well? I hope you liked it, you finally got to meet Jatchi, which took too long in my opinion, but whatever. Here it is, and I will try to update more often, really I will. 


	7. Part 7: The Clearing

**Hey guys, I know it's been forever, and I'm sorry, but life sucks in college. I've had a lot to deal with, two deaths in my family, losing three very close friends, and other things I don't care to mention, and it's been a challenge. However, without further adieu, I present to you CHAPTER SEVEN!!!! Loud applause and cheers Thank you, thank you. .**

**Same disclaimers apply: I own nothing and no one… except Caruh, Jatchi and Sae.

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I went back that night and apologized to Kakashi for being so childish. After accepting my apology he told me that he didn't believe Haku would try to hurt me, and I felt compelled to tell him the other reason that I lost it and left. He listened as I told him about Aden, and was sweet about it, saying comforting things. He also told me he was glad I fought back like I had. We kept talking, probably until dawn as I think I saw the sun shining through the window lightly as I shut my eyes.

A few hours later, when I woke up, Kakashi was gone, but he left me a note to meet for practice. This meant he was "getting lost on the road of life", or visiting Obito. Figuring he didn't want to be disturbed I went to the practice fields, meeting up with the team. After about half an hour they began to complain about Kakashi being late, twenty minutes later they noticed I wasn't complaining with them, and asked why.

"Have you guys ever wondered what he does to be late every day?" I asked them.

"Well, yeah," Sakura admitted, obviously curious as to whether I was going to tell them the answer to this great mystery.

I only partially disappointed them. "He's visiting an old friend that he misses quite a bit," I told them, standing, "and because we've already wasted about an hour of practice, what do you say we start without him?" All three of them seemed to like that idea.

"Me and Sakura!" Naruto called out.

Sakura looked at him, then at Sasuke, and whined, "I want to work with Sasuke though!"

"But, but, Sakura, we'll make a great team," the cute, but immature fox child complained. Sasuke just rolled his eyes. For once in my life, I had to empathize with Sasuke. There was one way to solve this.

"If we're going two-on-two," I spoke loudly to drown out Naruto and Sakura's bickering, "who would you like to work with Sasuke?"

He first looked at me like I'd sprouted wings, than grinned as what had been asked sunk in. "You," he said, the grin morphing to a smirk as the other two caught on.

"WHAT?!" they shouted, both turning their heads quickly in our directions. "WHY?!" (Can you say 'whiplash'?)

"She didn't try to decide for me, so I'll work with the person who gave me a choice," he explained.

Sakura gave me a death glare, to which I shrugged, and Naruto rejoiced at having gotten his way. While they were thus distracted, I looked at Sasuke, who nodded and we vanished into the trees. Our games had begun.

About an hour and a half later, making it two and a half hours after practice was supposed to have started, Kakashi appeared. Of course he appeared right between Naruto and I as we were about to go head-to-head. As we were feet away from clashing, Kakashi's appearance caused us to skid, both of us collapsing on our butts in unison to avoid running into our sensei. He looked between both of us, noted Sasuke and Sakura's whereabouts, and then shrugged.

"Looks like you don't need me to train," he said, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh at mine and Naruto's having fallen for his sake. "Keep going then."

_'He expects us to just pick up again?'_ I thought to myself, slightly irritated before I realized that this was just our teacher's nature, and I gave it up. Standing, I looked at him and answered, "You kind of killed it by popping up right in the middle of everything."

"Well, forgive me," he said sarcastically, "and whose idea was it to train alone anyways?"

"Alone meaning without you?" I asked back.

"Exactly," he agreed.

Naruto answered for me, "Hers." He obviously didn't have a problem condemning me.

As I was about to point out that he was dead for doing that, and that I had to live with this man, Sasuke and Sakura appeared. A few seconds after that it was agreed that I was the sole conspirator in the plot to train without Kakashi. Although Sasuke admitted to agreeing without thinking about how Kakashi would feel about it, before said sensei could turn on me, and a moment later Sakura begrudgingly agreed. It was nice, even if it was only because Sasuke had said anything. I was rather stunned, but glad at Sasuke's out of character support, so I smiled at him in thanks, and he nodded in return. Turning back to Kakashi, I explained we had gotten tired of waiting for him to start practice. He grinned (yes, I can tell) and nodded.

"You three are generous to speak for her," he said, for at that point Naruto had spoken out as well, "but I really wasn't going to get mad. It's a good thing you all decided to take the initiative for once." I breathed a sigh of relief, and then he continued. That's rarely a good sign. "I do need to talk to you Caruh, however, in private."

As I walked over to him, I noticed the other three return to doing nothing, just like we had been doing before the unauthorized training began. Without a second glance, Kakashi jumped into the trees a little ways, and I followed him. When he stopped, about fifty meters away from our little clearing, Asuma was waiting there.

"I thought you wanted to talk in private," I said, confused.

"When I said 'in private' I meant without Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto because they are not your team anymore."

"Huh?!"

Kakashi's eye told me it was confession time for him, a confession he wasn't about to like. "The point of having you join my team Caruh, other than that I am your guardian and there weren't any teams that needed a third member, was to keep you out of the Chuunin exams."

He had good reason not to want to say that. "You wanted to keep me out of the Chuunin exams?" I snapped.

"Well, yes, I didn't think you'd be ready, but-"

Asuma cut in, "There is a team that needs a third member now. I need you to join my team, now that the exams are near, to get used to working with Shikamaru and Ino beforehand so they can enter."

That made sense, but Shikamaru and Ino? "What happened to Choji?"

"He's sick."

"Sick? You shouldn't need me for a few weeks and the Chuunin exams if he's just sick."

Apparently Asuma didn't want to admit it, so Kakashi spoke up, "He got sever food poisoning, Caruh. He'll be out for at least a month, possibly a month and a half."

Who'd have thought? Choji, beaten by food? Oh, the irony.

"So, will you?" Asuma asked, sounding nearly desperate. He had a lot of faith in Shikamaru (with good reason) and Ino (…no comment). So, I needed to start training with them as soon as possible so we could work together as a team.

I looked at Kakashi, and decided to let go of my irritation for the second time that day, before turning back to Asuma with my decision. "It would be an honor," I nodded.

He was clearly pleased with that answer, and he motioned for me to follow him as he jumped off.

Kakashi smiled as I moved to jump after him. "You're ready," he said, before returning to his own team. The compliment was quite a life from how I'd been feeling around him, and I decided to thank him that night, maybe over dinner. With that on my mind, I followed Asuma, my new sensei, to meet my new team.

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**I've already started on chapter eight, so that'll be updated ASAP, I promise! In the meantime, I'm sorry this was so short, it just worked out that way. Feel free to review, I always appreciate it, and ja ne minna-san!!**


	8. Part 8: The Mission Part 1

**Hey, guess what I'm back! I tried not to take too long this time, and while I did want to make this chapter long, I basically decided to cut it in half. That does mean the Chuunin exams start on Ch. 10, and I know I've been stalling on those for quite a while! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you at the end!**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto… Yes, I do own Caruh and everyone else that is not originally a part of Naruto. Therefore, you cannot sue me.**

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Asuma stopped on the edge of another training field not far from the one Cell 7 was still using. Naturally, I stopped beside him. "I'll go in there first," he told me, sounding like we were on a scouting mission. Without giving me a chance to respond he was gone from my side, and in the clearing talking to his team. Well, what was left of it with Choji absent. That was almost depressing to see, but oh well. 

Within moments he was back at my side, telling me it was time. This man had a gift of making me feel like I was somewhere I wasn't. This time I felt like I was being led to my execution, not to meet my new team. Still, where he led I followed, and he led to the middle of the clearing.

Even though I knew these two from my television set, it was the same as with everyone else. Meeting them in person was almost surreal; until they spoke.

"Caruh, meet Cell 10, your new team for the next few weeks. This is Ino," Asuma introduced her first, probably hoping we would hit it off. Obviously, that wasn't meant to be.

The first words she ever said to me were, "You came from Cell 7? If you like Sasuke Uchiha don't expect us to get along."

Luckily for me I wasn't really expecting us to get along anyway, at least not right away. Asuma sighed, and looked at me, probably expecting a full blown 'I love Sasuke more than you do' fight to break out. He was surprised to see me shrug and look away. I was above arguing over a boy, especially one I really didn't care for in that way.

This struck Asuma as a relief, and a joy, as he smiled at me before turning to Shikamaru. The lazy-ninja hadn't really been paying much attention to us up to that point, so when the introductions happened this time he looked up for a moment, then lay his head back down and sighed. "How troublesome."

What could I expect? It was Shikamaru after all, ever girl he'd ever met was 'troublesome'. I wasn't likely to be any different, high maintenance or not. Besides, I'd taken the place of his best friend on the team, even though Choji had made himself sick. It didn't change the fact that I was the one here and not Choji.

So, instead of being insulted by either of them, I calmly sat down and said hello to both of them, then turned to Asuma to await orders. There wasn't much else I could do, except plot how best to annoy Shikamaru and pester Ino to death. After their cold reception, that sounded like so much fun.

Now thrown for a total loop, Asuma merely smiled at all three of us, and then spoke. "We should train to learn to work as a team, however the Hokage has a mission for us. I'm sure this will bring us together anyways, so it'll be for the best I'm sure. The Hokage knows what he's doing."

"If you say so," I spoke, pulling grass blades, wondering why the Hokage would bother to give us a mission seeing as how we'd only just now become a team.

"I do," he went on, not sure if I was being sarcastic or not. He'd get used to it soon enough. Within moments we had the full details of our new mission, which happened to be C-ranked because the Hokage couldn't find anyone else to do it. I think he felt bad that only Cell 7 had had a decent mission so he was allowing Cell 10 to do one as well, even though this one wasn't destined to become B-ranked. Either way, we were to deliver a package to the leader of Kusagakure, the Grass Country.

It would be simple, seeing as how we were allies with them, and they were so close to us. There were people who wanted the package however, and the man who had paid for a team to take it had taken it this far and was in no shape to continue with it. Just a little foreboding, but we went to the Hokage's office and picked up the package. Then we set off.

The initial idea was that we would trade off carrying the package when we were tired of carrying it. Ino, however, was still angry with me so she refused to take the package. **Shikamaru and I traded it off as we leapt through the forest when something occurred to me that seemed remotely familiar, though I couldn't quite place where from.** Instinctually tense and untense legs just as you land, which would make it easier on your legs and quicker to move.

I concentrated on this for a while, until I had the hang of it, and was moving much easier than the rest of them. Asuma was confused, but I didn't bother to try to explain it, not yet anyways. Watching me, Shikamaru got the hang of it quickly, and together we left Ino and Asuma in the dust, although Asuma didn't seem to mind so much. He knew we'd be waiting for them up ahead. Ino, on the other hand, was furious and she didn't get what we were doing to move so quickly.

Really, by the time we stopped to wait for them towards the edge of the Fire Country, I didn't feel like I'd moved much at all. Instincts, once allowed to kick in, were incredibly helpful.

Given a few moments of peace, Shikamaru and I started talking. Of course, I had to speak first to get any response. "So far so good."

It was enough to get a response, and he looked at me, a bit curious. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we haven't had to fight anyone yet," I say, looking up through the trees.

"You don't want to fight?"

Before I could answer him, I looked down at my palm where the senbon scar still remained from Haku. Without noticing, Shikamaru was at my side and he noticed the scar as well. "How did you get that?" he asks, sounding genuinely curious.

I almost lost my balance in the tree noticing he was there, which meant I would have to work on chakra detecting. Instead of letting him know I had nearly fallen, I told him, "Saving a life that didn't want to be saved."

I think, after that, he figured out why I didn't enjoy fighting. Instead of giving me a response, though, he just went back to his branch on a nearby tree and cloud gazed.

"I think we should make clones for later on, they can track us and if anything happens they can be there to help us," I thought out loud, and the next thing I knew there were two Shikamaru's on the tree branch. I made a clone of myself, and the two leapt into the trees to wait and follow us when we got moving again. The boy looked at me and nodded, a slight smile on his face, then he dazed off again.

"You know, Shikamaru," I said, getting a small "Hm?" in response. "I'm not replacing your best friend by being on your team. Choji will understand that you needed someone to get into the Chuunin exams."

Just that little bit of conversation caused him to look me, and he granted me a small smile. "Maybe you aren't so troublesome after all." That compliment felt quite good, maybe not as good as Kakashi's, but it felt good anyway.

As Asuma and Ino showed up, I couldn't help but smile as I thought, _'That's probably a good thing, because you have a habit of falling for the most troublesome of women._

A moment later, we had trouble; trouble in the form of five rogue ninjas.

"Give us the package the girl is carrying, and we shall leave you in peace." I remembered then that Shikamaru had given me back the package moments before and I shrugged.

"Unfortunately," Asuma spoke, keeping an eye on me to make sure I wouldn't do anything too stupid, like hand over the package I was holding, "you won't be getting this." If he thought I was going to hand it over, he had very little faith. I, however, had no time to show him the error of his ways, before we were attacked. Asuma took two of them, and the others went after the three of us.

A clone of mine I'd had tracking for a while, attacked from the trees behind the man I was fighting, and he turned to fight her, taking his attention off of me for long enough to hide the package. When he turned back, I had both hands free and a pair of kunai twirling on my fingers. He was mad that I no longer had the package he wanted and turned his attack up tenfold. I was hard-pressed to keep up with him, when I realized Ino was fighting near me.

A plan started to form in my mind, but I needed her to work with me, and at the moment the only thing she was working on was fighting her own ninja. Without interrupting her concentration, I had to get back to back with her. Slowly, without it being obvious what I was doing, I moved over towards her, getting my back against hers while continuing to fight the man that was furious with me and getting angrier with the moment. "Ino," I whispered, waiting for her to blow up at me. Shockingly enough, she just kept fighting, but gave me a quick look to show that she was listening.

"Ino," I said, in a more even tone, "I need you to help me."

"Help you? Why should I do that? I have my own problem!"

"If you'll help me, I'll help you," I told her, not phased by her apparent anger.

"I don't need your help, you're my rival."

There was the truth of the matter, and I had to quell this breach of teamwork now, before it got out of hand. "Look, Ino, I don't care about Sasuke like that. He's more like a friend to me, okay? I mean honestly! I couldn't really care if he fell down a ditch!"

(Meanwhile, Sasuke was walking through town, not really paying attention to where he was going, when he fell into a ditch.

"Watch where you're going kid! We're doing road construction here!" A man shouted, rolling his eyes. "And you call yourself a ninja.")

Ino glared at me with those words.

"I'm sorry, Ino, I don't mean I want him to be-" I was cut off from saying the word 'hurt' when I myself was hurt. A kunai was shoved into my shoulder, and I hissed in pain, denying myself a cry as I knew it would only distract me more. That got Ino's attention, and Shikamaru's and Asuma's, and I pulled the impaled object from my flesh and used the man's own weapon to return the attack. I aimed at the man's neck, attempting to slice his throat, but he dodged quickly and I managed to cut down his chest. I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me, and as the man fell, I stood ready to fight again. Turning, I noticed Ino was about to check on me, and lose her own concentration.

Without a moment's hesitation I was at her side and the two of us took the man down together, though this one didn't have to die, we merely knocked him unconscious. Asuma was done with his two and Shikamaru had finished his own battle by the time my mind cleared enough for me to register that I was in pain.

My blackout had also managed to block the pain, but as I stood there, realizing I was done fighting, the pain returned. I dropped the kunai and grabbed my left shoulder with my right hand instinctually. Ino moved forward to help, but Asuma stopped her. "I'll help her," he said, walking over.

"Wait." He stopped, and looked at me curiously, with my hand raised to stop him. I had bought new clothing since I'd left the hospital, and the lower half was mostly bandaging. I pulled a layer off of both legs, revealing from my knees to my ankles and bandaged myself. I knew those would come in handy sometime. Once that was done, I returned to where I'd hidden the package with Shikamaru's clone, and then went back to my team. "Should we continue? We haven't finished our mission yet."

"What about your shoulder?" Asuma asked.

I turned to him, and shrugged my good shoulder. "A team is only as strong as their weakest link, I will not be that link."

He had nothing to say to that, so we left to finish up what we started.

Not much after that we reached the border town, where we were going to stop for the night. Asuma insisted that I see medics, and he walked me there, with Shikamaru and Ino following behind us. It struck me as odd that they were already worried about me, but it must have made sense to Asuma, because he smiled at me, and at them. Into the hospital we walked and Asuma explained what had happened. A nurse nodded and told me to follow her.

My second time in a hospital now, and this time I knew Kakashi wouldn't be waiting for me.

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**PLEASE READ THIS!!!**

**Okay guys, this is what I have for you. I'm sorry it isn't as long as I would have liked, but before I can finish this chapter I have a bit of a dilemma. Seeing as how you all are my fans, however many of you there are, I would like your opinion on the matter. Originally, yes, this was meant to be a Caruh and Kakashi pseudo-love fic, not all love, definitely tons of drama, but some romance in there when the mood is right. Unfortunately, I've been having second thoughts on the grounds that he is at least ten years older than her. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but lately I've been lusting after a certain love-starved, red-head… you know the one. If you don't, here's another hint, he's the medium for Shukaku, and his name's Gaara. There, straight-up.**

**I don't plan on being fickle throughout this whole story, and I have ideas for her and Gaara that just would not have worked with Kakashi. So, here's my idea. Her and Kakashi try it out when she gets back from this mission (at the end of the next chapter) and realize, probably by the end of the tenth chapter that it just isn't right, or maybe even at the end of chapter nine. So, they form this, big brother little sister relationship. Her and Haku (in case anyone was thinking there could be a romance there) would be best friends, and the whole reason he's still alive and what happened there will be revealed in due time.**

**What I need from all of you is this, tell me what you think of that. Or, if you want it to be a Caruh/Kakashi fic. If enough of my fans decide on Caruh/Kakashi, over Caruh/Gaara, I might write two versions of the fic. However, the Gaara version will most likely be longer. Thank you those of you that took the time to read this and who are willing to give me straight answers. I appreciate your time. I hope you liked this chapter. If you didn't, well, it'll get better soon.**

**Arigatou and ja ne minna-san!!**


	9. Part 9: The Mission Part 2

**Woohoo! So, is everyone glad I'm back? And I know it took me a while, but I'm trying. So, please read and let me know what you think. Plus, there are some notes for everyone at the end of the chapter.**

**Same disclaimers apply: I do not own Naruto, if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. I do, however, own Caruh, Jatchi and Sae (both of who will be in it soon).**

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_Everything around me was gray and white. I was in a forest and the white rays from the sun poured through the leaks and cracks in the gray trees, to the varying shades of gray beneath my feet._

_The scene was familiar to me, yet I couldn't for the life of me place it. The trees formed a forest far different from the one surrounding Konoha. Unlike Konoha, which had trees, bushes and all sorts of plants and flowers densely grown together, this forest's flora and fauna were spread apart._

_Figures walking up to me drew my attention away from the scenery. There were four figures in all, but I could only make out vague details. All four figures were pitch black, with few clear details except what could be made out with each seeming silhouette._

_The tallest was a man with broad shoulders and a slight limp. The next was a woman with elbow length hair, and a slim build, she was small, but taller than the last two. Those two seemed hardly more than children, and they were the same size. Whether they were boys or girls was beyond me._

_All four continued to walk closer, but even still their features never came into focus._

The dream lingered through my slow waking process. I rested between half awake and half asleep for most of that night, and my conscious and subconscious thoughts alike swirled around that dream trying to make sense of it where there was no sense to be made. At least none that I could tell at the moment.

When I fully woke in the morning, my shoulder felt much better and there was a weight on my stomach, the dream forgotten after so much time had been spent on it. I lifted my head and noticed Pakkun sitting on my stomach, staring at me.

"You're awake then," he said, "it's about time."

"Forgive me for sleeping through the pain, Pakkun," I growled lightly, still not having much energy. "It's what happens when medic-nin's do their thing. Besides, I was hardly what you would call asleep."

He walked up my stomach, to my chest, being careful of my bad shoulder, and stared into my eyes. "Kakashi was right, you are smart."

"Your compliments confuse me," I told him, narrowing my eyes in irritation.

"I merely meant that Kakashi told me before he sent me here that you knew a lot, turns out you do."

"Do you mean to tell me you doubted him?"

There was a definite chuckle from his muzzle before he went back to staring me down. "To be blunt… yes. But, you've proven me wrong, now how do you know my name?"

"Why did Kakashi send you to me?"

"I asked you first!"

I laughed. "Are we bickering like children?"

"Yes, yes we are! Now answer me!" He raised his paw, and I grabbed it.

Rubbing the pads on it, I answered him, "Because I know you from a past life... or something like that."

"Past life?"

"I answered your question, now you answer mine," I demanded.

"Fine, fine," he answered, and pulled his paw away from my hand. "He sensed something was wrong and wanted me to check it out, okay?"

"He doesn't trust me then?"

"I didn't say that!" The argument would have gone on if not for the fact that Asuma walked in right then, with Ino and Shikamaru, interrupting us.

"You're okay," Asuma smiled, obviously relieved.

Looking down at myself I took stock of my injuries and how I'd healed. Then I looked back up at them and smiled innocently. "So I am."

"I'm glad you're doing better."

"Me too, Asuma-sensei."

"Without warning Ino ran to me, tears in her eyes, and she hugged me, being consciously gently of my shoulder.

"Eh…?" I breathed confused, slowly wrapping my arms around her as well.

"Thank you!" she cried. "Thank you and I'm so sorry!"

I looked over at Asuma and got a shrug and another smile in response. My team sure seemed to smile a lot. Can you believe I called them _my_ team? "You helped her out when she wasn't willing to do the same for you. You got hurt because she wouldn't listen to you about Sasuke, and she feels bad about it. What do you expect?"

So that was it. She realized I had turned to help her without hesitation when her hesitation had landed me in the hospital. Now she felt terrible about it. As long as she realized I wasn't her rival over the Great Uchiha Avenger, it was all good. I tightened my hug around her lightly and whispered into her ear, "You're welcome, Ino. I only wanted to help. Don't apologize okay? I know how life can be sometimes, and pretty much every other girl is head over heels for him. It was only natural for you to assume I was as well."

"It's good to know we can be friends," she sniffled, and then continued, "but you could have died because of me."

"I didn't, though, did I? If I let something that minor kill me I wouldn't be much of a ninja, right?"

Slowly she pulled out of our hug at that and looked me in the eyes. "You're a special person, Caruh."

I blushed at the unexpected compliment, and looked at her. "Thank you Ino, that means a lot to me. Although, I just like to think of myself as… unique."

Within seconds of Ino's thinking about what I said and her grinning about it, a new voice shattered the moment and got us all smiling all over again.

"This is so troublesome."

The medic-ninja's decided to release me two days later, seeing as how the wound had been deeper than anyone had thought, and as soon as I was out and had new wraps around my legs we were off again to complete our mission. The rest of the trip to Kusagakure was relatively simple, especially compared to the magnitude of that first battle.

In my time in the hospital that dream kept coming back to me. Not while I slept now, but while I was awake. In my rare alone times, between arguing with Pakkun who stayed with us until I was released, talking to Asuma-sensei and getting closer to my teammates, I thought about it constantly. Who those four figures could have been was beyond me, until my last night in the hospital when I was thinking about Kakashi and remembered a conversation I'd had with him in my early days in Konoha.

"What did you tell Sakura?"

"Caruh, please, don't change the subject."

"It was merely a question Kakashi-san."

"I told her that you were partially psychic and could read people by looking at them."

"And she bought that?"

There was a pause. "Caruh, what happened before you woke up here?"

In the time since I'd come here, I had hardly thought about my so-called past life. I didn't want to think about the people I'd left behind, but laying in that bed, trying to reminisce so I wouldn't be at a total loss forever, I realized I didn't remember much of anything, except the one spur of the moment memory of Aden, which I've come to believe was only because of the moment. I didn't remember my family or my friends; I didn't remember the people nearest and dearest to me. Nor did I remember school, whether I had a boyfriend or if I had ever experienced anything even slightly along the lines of the pain and excitement I had come to know recently as normal. Lastly, I didn't remember what had happened the day I'd "died".

When that realization hit me, I began to wonder again who those people in the dream were. Perhaps family? Perhaps friends? Still, the harder I thought about it the less I seemed to know, so I let the subject drop that night and allowed myself to drift to sleep.

The subject was still on hold while we finished this mission. There were more ninja trying to prevent us from reaching our destination, but none of them could seem to touch us and we made it the rest of the way to the Grass Country with no more interesting mishaps than a decent number of ninja's unconscious behind us.

The different terrain didn't do much to hinder our travel, and the forests were similar to those surrounding Konoha, and, unfortunately for my subconscious mind, the forest of my dream. It was a mixture of both compressed and separated brush. The bamboo thickets kept us entertained and helped us to train, as did the plains and rivers. It was to the base of a mountain we were traveling, to meet with the head daimyo of Kusagakure.

Upon arriving at our destination, we rested before going up to the door of his well defended miniature palace. We were allowed through after showing our cards and the door was answered almost immediately.

"Come in," a man who was probably the butler welcomed us, "My master has been waiting for you."

_'Master?' _I thought, but wasn't overly concerned at the word. It was used more often than not for someone in the service of another, and I could tell he said it with the utmost respect.

We were led to a sitting room, whereupon said butler left us to tell his master of our arrival. Within moments of us getting comfortable, a short stocky man walked into the room and we all stood to show respect. He looked around at each of us, and courteous bows were exchanged.

"I am Daichi Ao, leader of Kusagakure. I believe you have a package for me?"

"I do," I said, as I had been the last one to take it. I held it out to him, and he walked over to me. After taking the package, I couldn't help but continue to stare at it. He noticed this and turned back to me.

"Hmm? Can I help you with something?"

I blushed, slightly embarrassed, and looked at him. "I was just wondering, sir, if you wouldn't mind opening that here?"

"Why should I do that, Miss?"

A good question with a good answer. "We brought it here to you from Konohagakure, I have a fresh scar in my shoulder over it, and I'm dying of curiosity."

"Caruh!" Asuma scolded, indignant. "Show respect!"

Before I could apologize the Daimyo laughed lightly, and smiled at him. "It's quite alright, sir. She shows no real disrespect and you four do deserve to know what's within this box that was so important you'd get attacked." With that he sat down, and motioned for us to follow suit. We did without question.

It was the moment of truth and we all hovered over the table where he'd set the box to the best of our abilities. Almost too slowly for me he pulled the tape off of the box and folded all four sides down. Inside was a jewel, and he gently pulled it from its resting place.

"This is the Tea Country's 'Tiger' jewel, and it has the ability to calm raging winds. Their other jewel, the 'Dragon', can help to control ferocious waters. Together the two controlled storms in throughout Tea Country for countless centuries. Races were held every four years to decide who would rule their country, but the country is on the verge of civil war between the Wagarashi and Wasabi families, who will without a doubt, drag everyone down with them. Therefore, the current daimyo decided it was best to separate the jewels until things could calm down. We are having trouble with tunnel like winds that destroy whole villages at a time, and they offered it to us to watch over and to aid us."

It all made sense now. Why ninjas would want to steal it. To be able to calm winds with a stone most likely meant you could create them as well, and that was an ability that would be highly valued. Especially if it cost little or no chakra. Stopping a civil war also sounded like a good idea, and if two countries could benefit, all the better. These tunnel like winds sounded to me like tornadoes, and while I had no idea tornadoes bothered this part of the world, it was reasonable that they could.

We all admired it, and stayed to eat with the daimyo, who was a kind and caring man. Afterwards, we stayed with him for the night. Early the next morning, well, after breakfast, we were homeward bound. In the days it took us to get back we took a leisurely pace, with Asuma training us as a team while we went.

A week later and we were back in Konoha, a complete team and fully capable of working as one. We each had our strengths, Shikamaru's wisdom, Ino's flowers and Shintenshin, and my… well, strange chakra (which Asuma taught us all to put to better use). We each had our weaknesses, Shikamaru's laziness, Ino's jealousy, my trusting outlook on life, which could be a strength in the proper situation (like with Haku), my naïveté and my gullibility. We now knew these things about each other, and none of us looked down on another because of them.

I went back to Kakashi's apartment as soon as we'd finished our report to the Hokage, and visited with Haku, with a promise to my team to meet them at our clearing bright and early in the morning. When I walked through the door, the one eyed ninja I'd come to respect, and perhaps even love, was waiting on the couch for me. He looked up as soon as I entered, and stood, making his way towards me.

His eye seemed to be seething something, but I couldn't quite place it, at least not until he pulled me into a protective hug. It had been worry. He'd been worried beyond belief about me, and I couldn't help but return the hug, tears beginning to form in my eyes. I really was quick to cry when it came to emotional things, but I told myself it was only natural.

We talked late into the night again, and I ended up falling asleep with my head on his lap on the couch. He woke me up briefly, before leaving to see Obito, to give me a gentle kiss on the lips. I blushed, and returned it, before drifting back to sleep while he left. The last thing to go through my mind before I fell back asleep was that that had been my first real kiss, and my only kiss in Konoha. Where would things go from here?

* * *

**Okay, so, for those of you wondering, I did decide it would be a Caruh/Gaara story. I made this decision for a few different reasons. The only way for the story to go the way I wanted it to was for her to fall for Gaara, and while I know not all of you are Gaara fans, I do hope you will keep reading for the story. Their romance won't be intense, as far as I can tell, and if it is, you'll be warned, fair enough? I hope you liked her and Kakashi's kiss though. Hmm?**

**Also, for those of you wondering, I made a bit of a change, and if it's too major please let me know. I decided she shouldn't remember much yet, because it would add to the story for a while. I did change the fanfiction part in the eighth chapter, so if you want to go back and reread it I have it bolded, and it will remain that way until I post my next two chapters.**

**I hope I haven't missed anything, and I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It's going to get good again soon, and the Chuunin exams start in the next chapter. There's only one last thing. The Daimyo of the Grass Village I made up, and Daichi Ao means 'Great Green Earth'. The jewels from the Tea Country do exist, I just created the civil war as an excuse. Well, hope you liked it!! Arigato and ja minna-san!**


	10. Part 10: Bleeding Roses

**So, here it is, the long awaited 10****th**** Chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it. ****I am going to change some things around a bit, as I've decided I may not put ****Sae**** into the story at all, but there will be a new girl added in the next chapter (or the one after that) named ****Hikari****. Once I figure out her picture, I'll post if for you all. By the way, you're going to hate me, but I won't say why until the end of the chapter. You'll see. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Not that any of you could really sue me, because you don't own Naruto either, but just in case Masashi ****Kishimoto**** reads this story, I don't own Naruto he does. Or, if he's reading it, you do. I do own ****Caruh****Jatchi****Hikari**** and ****Sae**

* * *

After brutal training the next morning, which was cut short for reasons Asuma chose not to explain, I went straight to visit Haku. He had his own room in the Hokage's tower now, a small one, with only a bed and a desk with supplies on it, as there was a communal bathroom down the hall.

Together we had managed to have an extra chair brought in for my frequent visits. We sat upon them both now; for all that they were uncomfortable, because it was easier to be at the same level while we spoke.

Our talk was candid, as we discussed the inner workings of the mission I had just returned from. Somewhere along the way our discussion had turned from the battles and the outcome to my wound and from there to my dream.

I had had to confess to him that morning the truth, that I was not from Konoha, or even Suna, or any place he had heard of. I was from another world entirely. He wasn't angry with me for not telling him everything right away, nor did he scoff at the insane concept. He merely took a few moments a few moments to think about it and then nodded, accepting it as truth. I had come to realize that Haku was very easy to talk to. One of the easiest people I knew I could share my feelings with.

So, he asked me after a short amount of time, "So you honestly remember nothing of your life before?"

"Not now, but I did at one point," I noted. "Otherwise remembering my old name and coming up with this one would be an unexplained phenomenon. Though, I remember only my old name now."

"Well, it clearly isn't a phenomenon," he agreed, "seeing as how you remembered more back then than you do now."

"Exactly. Besides, how do you explain my remembering so much about this world? It's all knowledge from before."

"Not necessarily," a new voice spoke from the doorway. We both looked up from our bent over positions to notice the Hokage standing there, smiling at us. Behind his was another man, one I recognized as being the man who found me on a bench and convinced me to return to Kakashi. We'd only spoken for a few moments, however he had given me advice that helped me to move forward.

That didn't stop me from wondering what he was doing here. Or why the Hokage thought it was necessary he be here.

"What was with that remark, Hokage-sama?" I asked, looking between the two of them.

Instead of answering my question, he asked one of his own, directed at Haku, "May we come in?"

"You may, Hokage, but I'm not sure about your company," he responded, and none of us missed his lack of an honorific for the Hokage. The man hardly seemed to mind, however, and he walked in.

"This man is Viden Jatchi," he introduced us all. "He is here because he has a theory for you to consider Caruh."

With a small smile towards the Hokage and a questioning glance towards Haku, the man walked forwards and knelt down before me, to be at my eye level on the chair.

Grinning, he spoke, "So, you haven't been back to that bench since we first talk, I've noticed."

"You're right," I conceded.

He took up the seat across from me, and it took me until that instant to realize Haku had left his seat. I looked around rather frantically, to make sure he hadn't left me alone with this man who was barely more than a stranger. Breathing a sigh of relief, I noticed he was talking quietly to the Hokage, and they glanced at me occasionally until they realized I was looking them. Then they carefully avoided glancing in my direction.

Well, the distraction was only to last for a moment anyway. Jatchi spoke, "We have a chance to talk now."

"Honestly, I never thought I'd see you again," I admitted, slightly embarrassed I'd been so distracted.

"Hmm," he breathed, "but here I am in front of you again."

"So you are," I agreed, sounding like an idiot.

"Where to go from here?" he pondered.

I shrugged. "The Hokage mentioned you had a theory about my memories," I reminded him before we got lost in small talk.

"He did, indeed. Before I can get into that, however, I'll have to tell you that I know you've come from a different world," he admitted.

I was shocked, and then a wave of anger coursed through my body as I came to one of only two logical realizations. "The Hokage told you?" I demanded, irritated that he would reveal the secret that should have been only mine to share.

"No, actually."

Shocked again. The other theory, "Kakashi?"

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

"I have my reasons for knowing," he told me, avoiding my question. "Now, with that out of the way, the theory." He once again had my undivided attention. "Here it goes. Because of your being here as long as you have been, with no connection to that previous life, and because I'm sure you haven't thought much about it with how hectic things have been and how much life has changed for you, forgetting would be the natural course of things."

"Natural course of things? It's natural to forget everything I've ever known? To forget my own parent's faces? How many people were in my family? My friends?! MY LIFE?!!"

He let me rant for a moment, visibly flinching when I mentioned my parents, which confused me but didn't defuse my anger. When I was done, he looked at me, making sure I wasn't going to continue. Once he was satisfied I had finished my rant, he spoke again. "It's natural in that you are no longer a part of that life, and your mind is reacting in making it no longer a part of you."

That kind of made sense, but what about all of those other things I did still remember? "What about my dream?" I decided to start at the obvious place.

"Your memories are still in your mind, only suppressed, however they're still there," he informed me, gently tapping my forehead. "You are not truly meant to forget this that life, forgetting that much of life weakens a person. They forget much of how to live once they've forgotten their life. Besides, human nature does not enjoy forgetting experiences such as those, therefore you are subconsciously bringing it back."

"So I remembered in the beginning because it was still fresh in my mind, but as time went on it faded? Or vanished, like amnesia?" I asked, trying to make sense of it all.

"I do believe you understand."

"And this happens because, so long as I'm not in that 'world' the memories leave?"

"That's right."

"What about Aden? How did I remember him the night we met?"

"Emotions. You knew something was wrong with what Kakashi was saying, that it was touching a part of you that went deep. While you were walking your emotions brought the memory to the surface, your anger and frustration unlocked the key to reviving that memory," he explained, and I barely followed his words.

"Okay, then why do I remember everything I knew about this world that I learned in that one?"

"I am not yet at liberty to say," he sighed, standing again. "Come by the bench once in a while and we can talk some more."

With that he walked to the door, pausing in the doorway. "Thank you, Haku, for use in your room. I will see you again Lord Hokage." Then he was gone.

The Hokage finished talking to Haku and with a slight bow of his head to us, he left as well.

With all of that behind us, Haku reclaimed his seat across from me. "What was the theory?" he asked me.

I explained it as simply as I could, as I barely understood it myself at that point, and he graciously nodded. Mr. Silent Consent.

"And you and Lord Hokage? What did you talk about?"

"My future," he told me, a smile gracing his features.

"Eh…?" That lost me. "What about your future?"

"Later," he promised, giving me a hug. Evasion was becoming a habit with these people. Still, I wondered if his hug was a clue as to what they had been talking about.

* * *

Haku was eager to be alone for a while after that, so I obliged and decided to leave fairly quickly after our hug. He wanted to think about what had happened over the last hour, but quite frankly I did not. With everyone being so evasive, I didn't like the idea of trying to decipher all of their hidden meanings. With that in mind I set my sights on finding Team 7 and visiting with them for a while.

While I was walking, the Hokage's words drifted through my mind, just as I had hoped they wouldn't. 'Not necessarily,' he had said in response to my memories. What did it mean?

I shook my head hard, forcing my thoughts down a different path. Suddenly thoughts of Kakashi's kiss made their way to the forefront of my thoughts, making me blush often enough for the villagers to think me insane. Seeing my old team made those thoughts fade away, as I noticed Kakashi was not with them. I guess that was natural, but I couldn't help the disappointment that seemed to fill my heart. Still, I smiled at them, and forced the feelings from my mind, glad just to see Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura again.

Sasuke seemed to notice me then, and he mumbled something to the rest of his team. Naruto and Sakura looked up and spotted me, before waving like mad. By the time we met on the sidewalk they were grinning like idiots, and even Sasuke seemed pleased to see me. Wow.

"Caruh! You're back!" Naruto shouted, hugging me. I didn't bother an answer except a giggle, seeing as how his point was moot. Of course I was back, or I wouldn't be here in front of them.

Apparently, Sasuke was thinking along the same lines as I was. "Obviously, dobe, or she wouldn't be standing here."

"Don't call me that, Baka Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, jumping back from me and glaring at Sasuke.

Sakura and I exchanged a glance and a smile before pulling the two apart.

"So, where's Kakashi-san?" I asked, still wanting to use the honorific around them to be polite. Though, in truth I should use it anyway.

"Oh, he called practice to an end a couple hours ago," Naruto pointed out, turning to face me again.

"He even showed up on time today," Sakura said, giggling. "Just so he could end it early."

"I wonder why," I pondered, mentioning that Asuma had done the same thing. None of them had an answer, so instead we decided to walk around town together and enjoy each other's company once again. At one point Naruto mentioned that Sasuke had fallen into a ditch a couple weeks back and I flushed for a moment, realizing that the time frame was around the same time as I'd made that comment to Ino. She'd kill me if she found out. Luckily, none of the three around me noticed, and I recovered quickly.

It was then that we ran into our next trial. Konohamaru ran up to Naruto, begging to play with us. Naruto agreed readily, and off they raced, playing ninja. I chose gracefully to ignore the irony of a ninja playing ninja. It was in both of their best interest.

That was when it hit me. The next chapter, and Konohamaru and Naruto were about to run straight into them! "Sorry guys," I said to Sasuke and Sakura, taking off, knowing in seconds that they were behind me. We turned the corner shortly after Naruto, and stopped dead at seeing Temari and Kankuro! 'THE CHUUNIN EXAM!!' I screamed in my mind, thrilled. I hadn't thought of it since I'd seen the Sound Trio over a month ago, but now here it was, staring me in the face. Then I let it go, focusing on the situation at hand.

Kankuro had Konohamaru by the front of his shirt and was lifting him off the ground. I sighed, here we go. As I remembered (and I was glad at that moment my memories were as fresh as ever) Sasuke was not supposed to be out in the open, meaning there was no one to throw a stone and stop Kankuro. Well, damn. What I wanted was for Naruto to stop Kankuro so Konohamaru wouldn't lose any respect for him. Easier said then done.

With that in mind I told Sasuke and Sakura to move in and hold the intruders off while I, as discreetly as possible, dragged Naruto away. After his initial irritation I managed to get him to listen to reason and attack from the shadows. I still don't know how I did it.

Then I was at Sasuke's side again. He didn't ask about Naruto, which was for the best as it would have given everything away to tell him. Instead, he looked at me, silently asking what to do.

It was at that moment it dawned on me, Sasuke was looking to me for help, and I was almost floored. Almost, there was no way I was losing my concentration to think on Sasuke turning to me for ideas. I looked back at him, silently telling him to wait for a moment and let things play out. He got the message, and passed it on to Sakura just as silently. She nodded.

Only seconds later a short caused us all to look up, and we noticed Naruto leaping from a tree to tackle Konohamaru's tormentor. Naturally Kankuro dropped his charge and moved to block his attacker. Unfortunately, he was too slow to do anything but topple over into the dirt with Naruto on top. Konohamaru cheered for his hero, and Naruto smiled at him as he was pushed off Kankuro.

"You piss me off," Kankuro growled, which he had already said a few times.

Temari, also, had spoken once or twice since we had shown up, and as Kankuro reached around his back for his puppet Karasu she argued against it. As he ignored her, she renounced any responsibility she had for what he did next.

Clear, precise words stopped everyone in their tracks, "Kankuro, stop."

The voice demanded recognition, and although it wasn't meant for me, I obeyed. The redhead hanging from the tree branch Naruto had jumped from was looking at each of us, but when he caught my gaze we both froze for an instant. I swear my heart stopped, and then he broke the gaze. A good thing he did, too, because I seemed unable to do so. In fact, as his gaze locked upon Kankuro again to berate him about being a disgrace to their country and to genin everywhere I was still watching him like a love-struck puppy, my heart going from not beating at all to beating so rapidly, so loudly, I was sure everyone in Konoha could hear it.

What was wrong with me? I tore my gaze away from him and concentrated on Naruto and Konohamaru to reorient myself. I was in love with Kakashi, right? I mean, I'd gotten so close to him recently, and we _had_ kissed. Sort of. So confusing. Anyways, there was no way I could be in love with Gaara, especially not after having only seen him once.

Impossible. Right?

I looked back towards them, and noticed that he was looking at me again. While I couldn't help wondering what he was thinking, I could keep my heart from playing its stop-start rhythm. Our eyes met for the second time, and I studied the hidden world behind those black-shadowed orbs. The pain there nearly broke my heart, and when he turned away again I had to compose myself before tears formed. As they walked away, I found my voice unexpectedly, and called out, "Gaara!"

All three of them stopped and turned, though Kankuro was the first to speak. "How do you know his name?"

Luckily, I had a ready answer for that, as unexpected as the outburst was. "You said his name earlier. And he said your name Kankuro."

No arguing that point, and luckily he didn't. Gaara studied me for a moment before asking, "What?"

Now I didn't know what to say. "Good luck in the chuunin exams," I blurted, embarrassed. He nodded, and then the three of them turned and left.

At that moment Sakura spoke, "What were they doing here? I realize the alliance keeps us at peace, but they aren't allowed onto Fire Country without permission."

"Sakura," I explained, looking at her, thoughts of the Sand Siblings in the back of my mind now, "It's time for the chuunin exams. The tests that decide which genin are qualified to become chuunin. They're here for the exam. I bet tomorrow Kakashi announces to you guys that the exams are being held in a week, if I'm wrong we can spar, me against the three of you."

"And if you're right?" Naruto asked.

"We'll see when it happens."

* * *

The next day did bring the exciting news, and Asuma told us we had a week to decide. "No one is allowed to pressure another member of the team into joining," he told us. "It is a personal decision. In the meantime, you three will be learning new abilities, and building on old ones. Let's get started." That practice was the hardest we'd ever had, but it was worth it. I decided that sometime this week, seeing as how I had been right, I would get Naruto to teach me his Kage Bunshin technique, learn all about chakra and the shinobi standards from Sakura, learn a few famed Uchiha fire jutsu's from Sasuke, and practice my chakra training alone or with my team (I was determined to learn water walking before the exams began).

Meanwhile, I spent whatever free time I had left, which amounted to sometime between eleven 'o' clock at night and seven in the morning with Kakashi. Usually, I slept, he understood that I was exhausted, and was giving all my strength to becoming the best I could be, but I always knew he was close by. He'd moved his bed over to my side of the room and only about an inch and a half separated our sleeping areas now, as I realized that morning of the announcement. Generally, when I woke up, it was to his face, close to mine, his right eye open and watching me. In the morning, we shared a kiss before starting out on our days, and a hug if we saw each other in public. I loved being near him, I loved his presence, and I loved him. However, that day with Gaara disturbed me still, and I tried everything in my power not to think about it. What bothered me the most was that, when I saw him leaving, I wanted more than anything for him to stay. I pushed the thought aside. I had Kakashi.

* * *

The morning of the exam was upon us, and Shikamaru, Ino and I met outside the academy, where the exam (the first part anyway) was to take place. Neither of my team mates knew about my "sixth sense", nor did Asuma. That was probably for the best. I had too much on my mind for them to be asking questions.

The conversation with Jatchi had been on my mind a lot since we'd talked, and my dreams had been coming back with more force. I was remembering more, colors were surrounding the woods and the area seemed all the more familiar. Details adorned the faces of the people, and every time they were walking closer. I could almost recognize them as well, though it was still stuck in the back of my mind, refusing to surface. New people had appeared as well, though they were as featureless as the first figures had been in the beginning.

I hadn't seen Gaara all week, which was for the best, because I couldn't deal with what that implied. Kakashi and I were closer than ever, although we were still discreet in public we shared the same sleeping mat now, though he graciously slept on top of my covers under his own, so we had a layer between us. Still, it was nice to wake up in his arms each morning.

My extra training with Team Seven had brought be up to par with genin now, and I had a few extra tricks up my sleeves. I'd mastered the Kage Bunshin and a few Fire Style techniques from Naruto and Sasuke respectively. It had, however, cost me dear time in sleep. I couldn't help but think it was worth it, however.

Asuma showed up right on time, for which I was grateful. I could never get used to Kakashi's three hours late with "I got lost on the road of life" or "A black cat crossed my path" as his only excuses, even if I did know what he was really doing. I'd heard, though, that Team Seven had picked up on the habit of sparring or studying together while they waited now though, and was proud in spite of myself.

"Have you all filled out your forms?" he asked us, and we all nodded, handing them over to him. "Good job, team. I am proud of each of you for deciding to do this, because if a single one of you had chosen not to the entire team would have had to sit out." He smiled especially at me, and I nodded in return. With that, we stepped inside.

Walking up to our room, we noticed a group of kids being stopped outside. I smiled and kept walking, not even making eye contact with the two guarding the door. Ino and Shikamaru followed me curiously.

"That was the classroom, Caruh," Ino pointed out to me, and I shook my head.

"Look at it again Ino," I told her, and she and Shikamaru looked back.

"Genjutsu," Shikamaru noted, looking back at me. The look in his eyes told me his earlier assessment was true, I wasn't very troublesome at all. I smiled at him and we made our way upstairs to the classroom. The exams had begun.

* * *

**AHHH!!! Can you guys ever forgive me? I made it long, but still, the exams only just started. I hope you liked, and understood, the description from ****Jatchi****, if not I'll try to edit it. Well, if you didn't understand it, I'll try to edit it, if you didn't like it I can't really help you. Anyways, ****What**** did you think about her first meeting with Gaara? And how ****are you liking****Caruh****/Kakashi? It'll only last a little bit longer, and I don't want them to get too heavy before making the decision to break it off. Well, let me know what you think, okay? And I would like to get more than one review on this chapter, please. Arigato and ****ja**** ne ****minna****-san!!**


	11. Part 11: The Way of the Shinobi

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its characters. I do own Caruh, Jatchi and the other characters you don't recognize. No stealing, it isn't nice and I will hunt you down if you do.

* * *

As we walked on a shout caught our attention, and I paused by Ino and Shikamaru to watch Rock Lee call Sasuke out.

"Sasuke this! Sasuke that!" Naruto shouted frustrated. "What's so great about Sasuke anyways?"

Ignoring him, everyone watched as Lee and Sasuke started fighting. By the time Lee started to beat Sasuke, Ino was nearly in frenzy, so I grabbed her wrist and dragged her off to the room for the first exam knowing Shikamaru was following.

Once we entered the classroom Ino was still hyperventilating over her poor Sasuke, but otherwise we were back to normal. Only moments later Cell 7 walked in and Ino was all over Sasuke. She jumped on him, excited he was okay after fighting Lee. Sakura didn't like that at all, and soon she and Ino were at each other's throats.

Everyone else groaned and started trying to talk over them. I tried to get them to stop talking and I tried to point out how many people they were irritating. Naturally, I got no response, so I decided it would take the reasoning of a stranger to wake them up. Choosing to wait, I stepped back to lean against the wall, listening to them and ignoring them at the same time, however that works. Sighing, I shut my eyes and leaned my head back against the wall to bide my time until Kabuto showed up to accomplish what I couldn't.

Moments later a voice finally did break through their shouting. They quieted down and looked at the intruder that knew they were the "Rookie Nine". I opened my eyes, studying him while I ignored his words. He was a tall boy, older than many there but me and probably a few others. He was skinny, too, but stronger than he let on, I knew. His silver hair resembled Kakashi's only in color, and the glasses that adorned his face looked more like a decoration than a necessity. I hated him the instant I saw him, but he had an important role to play so I had to stifle my anger before anyone caught on to it.

As he was explaining to them about how they were pissing everyone else off, he stopped in mid-sentence as his eyes brushed past me and then flicked back. He didn't recognize me, and I watched as his eyes flickered from confusion to worry.

'So, he has no card for me,' I couldn't help but muse. 'And yet, Yakushi Kabuto, I know more than enough about you."

At just that moment, Naruto turned to see who Kabuto was looking at and I groaned upon realizing he was about to introduce me. Leaping over a few of my companions, I landed next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to interrupt him.

"What do you want?" I asked Kabuto, keeping my voice calm considering the circumstances.

"Who are you?" he asked me, clearly wanting information.

Before anyone could answer for me, my eyes narrowed and I repeated my question a bit more harshly. "What do you want?"

With a slight smile at how indignant I was being he pulled out his cards, explaining what they were, and offered to help us out a little bit.

"These cards are chakra encoded with everything I've learned over the past four years," he told us, though I wasn't listening to how many he had or how they worked. It wasn't a surprise to me. He showed us his card with the villages and the 3-D bars representing the amount of genin participating from each. "Why do you think they all come to take the exam at the same time?" he asked us, though I noticed he didn't look at me, just past me. "It's to foster friendship between nations of course." I knew all of this already, so I tuned it out while he talked about maintenance of balance between the nations.

Leave it to Sasuke to ask about the other genin participating. I figured I might as well listen here, because I knew he mentioned Gaara and while I knew everything already, hearing it again couldn't hurt.

"There's Gaara of the desert, and there's Rock Lee of the Leaf Village while you're at it," Sasuke demanded.

"Man, that's no fun, you even know their names? That makes it easy," he said, pulling out two cards and seemingly setting the dilemma I caused aside.

Again I ignored him while he talked about Rock Lee, but paid attention again once Gaara came up. They discussed how intense the competition would be this year, and how no one knew about the Sound Village. I almost laughed at how ridiculous that statement was, because of course Kabuto knew all about the Sound Village, but I held my tongue.

It took Naruto all of two minutes to get so excited he couldn't stand it. Just as Sakura was about to console him, he turned to everyone in the room, shouting out his name and how intent he was to beat everyone. I couldn't help but laugh lightly at seeing Sasuke and Kabuto smile at his reaction, and everyone else's faces grow stone cold. Everyone around us also made it a point to complain about how loud Naruto was.

In that moment of distraction, the Sound ninja attacked Kabuto. Or, I should say, they were going to, they were supposed to, but they stopped mid-attack when they recognized me. You know, the little runaway Sand Ninja who was now on a Konoha team.

"What are you doing here?" Zaku demanded, stopping in front of me instead of Kabuto.

"Same thing you are," I answered him calmly, pretending not to know what he meant. "I'm going to take the exam to become a Chuunin."

"He meant why are you taking the exam as a Konoha-nin?" Kin asked, standing slightly behind me and to my left. Turning my head slightly I noticed Dosu at his place to my right and I recognized that they had me circled.

"I was adopted by one of Konoha's ninja's," I shot back, wondering vaguely if stalling them was really worth it for Kabuto or me. "Can't exactly take the exam for one country while being a resident in another, can I?"

"No need to get touchy," Dosu said, not quite angry or amused, but a bit of both.

"Then stop with the third degree and leave me alone."

"Don't forget, we won last time," Zaku sneered.

I smiled at him innocently, "I do appreciate your help with my chakra too."

That seemed to be the last thing he wanted to hear, and he turned to attack me. It would have turned into a repeat of our last fight, though I could hold my own now, if Kabuto hadn't stepped in.

"Leave her alone," the silver-haired teen demanded, and all three of the sound-nins turned on him once again, suddenly seeming to remember their true purpose.

In an instant their attack on Kabuto was done, and although they hadn't touched him, he still fell to his knees and vomited. I heard Sasuke ask what had happened, because he hadn't been touched, but I knew. I knew about their Sound jutsu's.

A puff of smoke cut off anything else that was going to be said as a voice came through. "All right you baby-faced degenerates, pipe down and listen up!" It was almost a relief to have Ibiki show up… almost. Everyone was silent, wondering about what was going on, I was just glad things were finally starting to happen. Suddenly, there he was as the smoke lifted, surrounded by many ninjas ready to be sentinels for the first exam. "It's time to begin," he smirked. "I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor. And from this moment, your worst enemy."

The man did know how to use fear as a weapon, but I knew all of these tricks, so I wasn't as intimidated as many others, but I knew he was my enemy right now. He was going to try to get as many of us to fail as possible.

Then he addressed the Sound Trio, and they apologized for being too excited and not knowing the rules as this was their first time. "I'll only say this once, so listen up. There will be no combat between candidates, or attacking each other without the permission of your proctor. And even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?"

It was Zaku that answered, what a surprise. "No fatal force? That's no fun."

The sentinel's seemed amused, the proctor didn't. Ibiki told us to turn in our papers and take our seats. I was sitting between a Sand ninja I didn't know, a girl with long black hair in a high ponytail and a perfect complexion, and a short boy with gray eyes and blue side-spiked hair. Then Ibiki went over the rules.

The first rule: points were reduced from a perfect score based on correct answers.

The second rule: The test is a team effort. That caused an outburst from Sakura, which Ibiki quickly silenced.

The third rule: No cheating allowed.

"If you want to be shinobi, then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be," Ibiki told us, before announcing the final rule. That if any one person failed, the entire team failed.

Looking to my left, I noticed the girl beside me seeming to fret just like I knew Naruto was, and I knew Sakura herself was on the verge of a fit learning that her entire future could depend on Naruto. We started, knowing the final question would be given at the end.

I looked at the test I was given, and shook my head. No wonder they didn't expect genin to know these answers, they were ridiculous for our level. So, I thought back, trying to remember who it was that had been put there for our cheating purposes. Of course I knew I could cheat off of Sakura, but that seemed wrong, we had been teammates once. Then I realized I was sitting next to one of them, talk about luck.

I didn't need to look directly at his paper to cheat, just use a little trick Haku taught me a while back and something Naruto added to it. I allowed a drop of sweat to fall onto the table and infused it with chakra. It wasn't enough to freeze it solid, I wasn't capable of manipulating ice like that, but it did make it more solid, and it was able to reflect the paper next to me. Naruto had given me the idea to levitate it, so I could get an idea of all the answers. Once I had them, I shifted it to the other side of my paper so the sand ninja to my other side could get the answers she didn't have. I think she appreciated it.

After forty-five minutes Ibiki broke out the tenth question. "All right, listen up, here's the tenth and final question, but before I give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of." Just then Kankuro returned from the bathroom, which he'd gone to a while back, and Ibiki told him to get to his seat. Then he continued, "These rules are unique to question ten. Listen carefully, and try not to let them frighten you." None of these rules were a surprise to me. We could back out of the final question; choosing not to answer gives an automatic zero, a failure for both yourself and your teammates; and finally, choosing to take the question and failing it not only drops you out of the exam, but bars the participant from ever taking the exam again. Some choices, I was just glad I knew what the tenth question was.

Only after giving us time to think about our options, to decide whether or not we wanted to take the exam, did he tell us to choose. Looking at the girl next to me, the pretty girl with a shy smile, I decided to keep an eye out in case she was thinking about raising her hand. Something told me to get to know this girl, and I couldn't do that very well if her team was out of the exam. Fortunately for me, by the time people had backed out with their team, and Naruto had given his outburst of "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run!" just when everyone thought he was going to quit, she didn't seem in the least bit ready to quit. I didn't know about the rest of her team, but just seeing her so strong was an encouragement to me.

Looking at Ibiki, I wished silently that I could learn what he knew about the mind, about how to manipulate it. That was beside the point though, the point was Naruto's outburst had done its job. No one else was going to quit, and even Ibiki, with his vast knowledge of the mind, knew that. He knew, and he told us we had passed.

Everyone willing to stay was equipped to move on. Just like a real ninja doesn't back out when given a dangerous mission, we didn't back out from a dangerous question. Therefore, we all moved on to the next part of the exam.

Information, as Ibiki put it, could be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well information is gathered could determine a mission's failure or success. However, it wasn't the words he said that day, that I remember the most, it was his evidence. I knew it was coming, but still, seeing the scars, the burns, the holes in his head, was almost more than I could stand. That was the true testament to what he was saying. Still, he went on about information, and I listened, even though I'd heard it all before.

Next thing any of us knew the window blew out and there was a rush of the wind. Kunai flew in various directions, to pin a large banner to the walls and ceiling, and standing before us was Anko Mitarashi. She was, of course, full of freaky energy, and very eager to get us going on the second exam.

It was all I could do not to laugh right out at how hyper she was, and how she bickered with Ibiki. I couldn't help but think that the two of them deserved each other. Then we were told our numbers were about to be divided by half, and I couldn't wait to get to the Forest of Death. Unfortunately we had a whole night to wait, and I was once again glad that Shikamaru and Ino didn't know about what I knew. Telling them everything would ruin everything. Still, thinking about it, there were some things about the second exam that I wanted to change, whatever the consequences.

Because I'm sure anyone reading this knows the rules of the exams, I won't go into as much detail about the start of the second exam. However, because I did give so many details about the first exam, it's only right I give a short run-down, or at least of the beginning of the second exam.

We were introduced the Forest of Death and told to turn in our papers to get our team's scroll, either the heaven or earth scroll. Sasuke was a brat, as usual, and the kunoichi from Grass, also known as Orochimaru, played sick games with his tongue.

When Ino, Shikamaru and I went to get our scroll we were handed a heaven scroll, and told to choose a gate to enter the forest. We had five days, no holds barred, to get the other scroll, in our case the earth scroll, and get to the tower directly in the middle of the forest. The scrolls were not to be opened until then, but otherwise there were very few, to no, rules.

After a few moments of anticipation and anxiety, we were allowed to enter the forest. The second exam had begun!

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Hey guys! I know it's been a long time, and I know I said a week, but then school caught up with me! Sorry! I know this chapter is kind of boring because it's all known stuff, but it's necessary and I didn't want to go into too much detail about the opening of the second exam because I'm desperate to get into it! So, you can rest assured that it will be coming out soon because I'm dying to finish it! We get to meet Orochimaru aka Roachimaru and boy do I have some fun things planned for him. Whee! It'll be fun, I promise!!


	12. A Nice Note From The Author

Hey guys...... So, I'm sure you've all given up on me. For a long time, I'd given up on myself. BUT! I do have the rough draft, and half of the final draft of the next chapter written, and if you're willing to give me another chance, I'm hoping and praying you'll keep reading. On my honor (which means a lot more to me now than it did before) I will start updating at least once a month, by the 15th. With that being said, some fun and interesting things are happening during the second part of the Chuunin Exams, and everything will start picking up soon.

I really am sorry for how long it's taken me to get back to you guys, but I haven't been able to write in a LONG time, as you've all seen. I am back in it though, for the long haul, no matter what that means. So, if you want to rag on me, or yell at me, or anything..... I deserve it. I love you though, all of my fans, and I am truly sorry for what I've done to you. I don't have a good excuse other than writer's block, and a lacking desire to write.

Also, on my profile I'm going to put up something for you guys to look at, but it won't go up until late tonight or early tomorrow morning (as in, late on June 8th, or early on June 9th) so keep an eye out for that if you want to give me some fun eventful ideas or requests on stuff to write. The rules and my guidelines/favorite pairings will be posted there. Hope people get excited, and I really really really hope you enjoy the new chapter, which should be out by the end of the week. Keep your finger's crossed!!!


	13. Part 12: The Problem with Killer Intent

**Disclaimer: For those of you who haven't guessed, Naruto isn't mine. If it was, believe me things would have gone differently. Either way, it doesn't so, what does belong to me is this story and all of the characters in it that you don't recognize from the story. No stealing. As if you want to borrow.**

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The Forest of Death earned its name those first two days, not because we saw anyone die, but because the three of us saw no on at all. It really was as if no one else existed in the world, and by the third morning we were worried and bored. Worried that no one else seemed to be around at all and bored to tears at the lack of action. My boredom, unfortunately, manifested itself into frustration, and from there slowly into killer intent. With nothing else to capture their attention, both Shikamaru and Ino caught the energy I was unthinkingly allowing to seep from my body into the surrounding area.

Shikamaru stopped in his tracks and turned to me, his eyes showing both surprise and irritation. "What are you doing, Caruh?" he asked, whispering, before Ino could even react. She stopped and looked me over as well when he asked, her entire face shocked over the fact I could even manifest such energy.

It took me a while to realize what they were referring to, because up to that point I hadn't been paying attention to where my thoughts, not to mention my emotions, had been leading me. When I did realize it, I stuffed the emotions down somewhere deep inside of me so they couldn't be sensed or felt and blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry guys," I whispered, looking away from them.

Shikamaru nodded once, then turned and kept walking as if nothing had happened, but Ino seemed to keep her distance from me for a while, apparently afraid. That amused me, but it sort of hurt my feelings as well, since I hadn't intentionally been giving off the killer energy. No one had much time to dwell, though, as a scream came from nearby. All of our heads snapped up, because the startled cry sounded like someone we knew, Sakura.

In that instant I remembered what was supposed to be happening now, and I took off, knowing full well Shikamaru and Ino were right beside me. As we ran I berated myself for forgetting about this, the introduction of the single most important villain of the chuunin exams: Orochimaru. I had to stop him from cursing Sasuke, before the boy could make his own life and everyone else's miserable. I came upon a hiding place with a perfect view of Team 7, just as Orochimaru and Sasuke began to fight, and I hid behind the bushes with Ino and Shikamaru crouching down beside me. As silently as possible I reached into the pouch on my hip and pulled out a shuriken, twirling it in my fingers as I waited for the perfect opportunity. Not to say that I had this planned, but I knew when the best time to attack would be, when Orochimaru's attention would be directed elsewhere.

With a quick gesture I told my teammates to stand down. I knew full well I was getting myself in over my head, but I refused to endanger them as well when they had no idea what was happening. They both nodded, trusting me, and so until the time was right the three of us waited in silence.

Unbeknown to us, at the same time that we were waiting for a break in a battle we weren't supposed to know anything about yet, someone else had picked up my trail of killer energy. A not so average three-man team with an even less average leader. The red head and his siblings had already secured more than one set of each scroll, and had already been to the tower to end their journey, but Gaara wasn't satisfied. His blood lust hadn't been satiated, so they went out again, knowing fulll well that they had an automatic pass through the second exam when they were ready for it. In the meantime they traveled back through the forest, looking for fights and hoping for a challenge. That was when Gaara picked up on my energy. With a wicked gleam in his eyes that I was only told about later, he followed it, hoping to find the person that had been letting it off for the chance of a good fight.

Without meaning to, without even realizing I had done it, I had gotten myself in more danger than I could imagine with one guy I did not want to be at odds with. Meanwhile, while he was following that trail towards us, I was about to end up in a fight with a Sannin I didn't stand a chance against. Then again, neither did Sasuke, and although Orochimaru had no reason to keep me alive, I would not let him hurt my friend, because I would have a hard time staying friends with the boy once he became power hungry. It was for that very reason that, as things seemed to come to a stand still in their fight, I braced myself. In a split second Orochimaru's neck began to stretch, I stood and time seemed to stall. It didn't stop completely, and I couldn't figure out what was happening except that my adrenaline must have been making things seem to go slower. I threw my shuriken, the only motion that seemed to be in real time, and I watched it fly through the air and lodge inself into the snake lover's vulnerable area, his neck. In the instant it hit time returned to its normal pace, and I watched him go down simultaneously while sensing a strong force rushing towards me before I could react.

The impact of my chakra's recoil felt like a knife in my chest as I fell, gasping in pain. The sense erupted into fire, and I could barely breathe, but I still took joy from hearing Orochimaru's cry of pain.

When time didn't seem to ease my pain I knew something was seriously wrong, but nothing was going to leave me prone against Orochimaru, not if I could help it. So I forced myself to my feet and faced him, shoving my pain aside. He seemed to know how much pain I was in, but that may bave been because he was in massive amounts of pain as well as we faced each other.

Orochimaru's neck had retracted now and the shuriken had been removed, but the blood that little wound had produced was amazing. I watched it pour down to his shoulder, staining his clothing red. When I looked at his face I saw anger, fury, and his eyes told me he wanted me dead, though not quickly. It didn't take an ANBU to realize he wanted me to suffer even more than I already was before he took me out.

I couldn't hear much else but my eyes caught a flash of movement through the trees and I knew I needed to get Orochimaru to back towards those threes if it was at all possible. It would be difficult, though, I could tell as he rushed at me. Ducking aside I barely made it away before he could grab me, but he was faster, better trained at dealing with pain and fighting through it. Turning quickly he grabbed the back of my neck and threw me hard, and I couldn't react. I hit the ancient tree with enough force to crack it, though I think the only thing that took any damage were my head and back as I made impact, then slumped against the ground. The pain was strong enough to make my vision blur and put a loud ringing in my ears. Before I could recover he came at me again, though this time someone stepped between us. The jet black hair protruding up to look like a tropical fruit caught my attention, and I have to admit I was surprised. I had never occurred to me Shikamaru would step into a fight for me. Obviously, Orochimaru never realized it could happen either because he paused in his headlong attack.

My head began to spin as I watched them stare each other down, and nausea started at the pit of my stomach. As my head dropped I saw my teammate's feet and realized if anything came out of me it would hit him. I gagged. Not wanting to let anything out on Shikamaru I demanded that he move. He looked back at me and I could tell he didn't want to do as I asked, but when I gagged again he seemed to get the picture. As a distraction he ran at the now confused Orochimaru and jumped over him, tucking his legs in. Orochimaru turned to follow him just as I gagged for the third and final time, letting out what needed to be released. To my immense shock, it wasn't what I thought needed to be expelled from my body. What came pouring out of me was my chakra, massive amounts of it. Raw chakra that flew straight out of every pore in my body, and through it my only though was that I was glad Shikamaru had moved. The pure chakra plowed straight into Orochimaru, sending him straight into the trees.

By the time I could focus on what was happening again, that was about all I could do. Sit, watch, smile as Anko dropped from the trees holding Orochimaru against her with a kunai pressed so hard to his throat she was already drawing blood. He couldn't move without his throat being slit, but he could smirk, and he could talk, and he did both. The mind games started then, and although the ringing in my ears kept me from hearing his cruel words, I prayed to the ninja gods that she could resist them without losing herself. My body was in too much pain to be able to stand and help her, and I wouldn't be able to do much as disoriented as I was, but I wanted to, she deserved help even if she didn't want or need it. I saw her facial expression get tight and angry, and all I could do was hope she could accomplish her job of bringing the enemy back to the Hokage without letting her emotions do something drastic, like kill him in the Forest of Death before her mission could be completed. What an ironic concept that was.

A moment later the two of them were gone in a swirl of leaves and my body slumped back against the tree in exhaustion. I could feel myself shaking as my hearing slowly cleared and I noticed Shikamaru crouching on one side of me and Sasuke on the other.

"Caruh!" Shikamaru yelled, sounding worried. He was the one shaking me, and I was amazed I hadn't sensed, felt or heard either of them until that point because Sasuke was checking my vital signs while Shikamaru tried to get my attention. I really must have been out of it, which kind of worried me.

I waved my hand at them to acknowledge I heard and understood, then shut my eyes to try to clear my head. Aside from the pain of hitting the tree, and the slight blur of my vision, I seemed to be in much better condition. Opening my eyes again I looked between the boys and asked them if they wouldn't mind helping me stand up. Without a word they each supported me and lifted me up to my feet.

I couldn't tell where Sakura was, but I sensed Ino as she moved up behind me in case I fell backwards when the boys let me go. As they released my arms I did sway a bit, but my balance stayed with me and I stood on my own. They each took a couple of steps back to give me room when they realized I was able to support myself.

It was, as fate would have it, at that very moment that Gaara, Temari and Kankuro dropped into the clearing. They had apparently been watching my show down with Orochimaru and although it was obvious I was in no shape to fight Gaara faced me anyways.

No one, not even his siblings, knew what to do when Gaara raised his arm and pointed straight at me. "You're the one," he said, and I had no idea what he was talking about.

"The one.... what?" I asked. Part of me wanted to tease him, ask "The Chosen One?" or something to that effect, but deciding against it considering the look in his eyes. For some reason I couldn't grasp I was still oddly mesmerized by him, taken in by something dark and beautiful I couldn't explain, and part of me wanted to stay as close to him as I could without looking back. Talk about issues.

"The one that let off the killer energy before," he told me, not having moved a muscle besides his mouth, his finger still pointing at me.

I stood frozen, staring at him, clueless as to what to say now. He had followed my energy here? Gaara of all people? Why? I couldn't figure it out so I asked him. "It was a powerful energy, so I wanted to challenge the person that put it out there. Too bad someone got to you first, but I still want a fight," he told me, which shocked me even more.

Sasuke looked at me, blinking in disbelief. "You let off killer energy?"

"She did this morning," Shikamaru answered for me. "I didn't think anyone would pick up on it, let alone follow it though." He watched Gaara as he spoke and I looked between everyone, confused again. That seemed to be becoming a normal state for me.

Sasuke looked between Gaara and me for a moment before explaining, "Leaving a trail of killer intent strong enough to be sensed can be taken as a challenge to an enemy ninja."

"Challenge? Enemy? I didn't even really mean to do it," I tried to explain. "And I don't want to be anyone's enemy."

"Whether you want to be or not," Kankuro said, sounding as cocky as ever, "you are our enemy." He was looking me over as he talked, sizing me up or checking me out, I wasn't entirely sure which, when he glanced at Gaara and got a death glare. "What? She is."

"I'm challenging her," he said, before looking back at me. "Do you accept, Caruh?"

I hesitated. My back still hurt from hitting the tree, the edges of my vision hadn't entirely cleared yet, and my chakra was completely drained, but he would respect me more if I accepted despite that and for some reason I wanted his respect more than anything right then. I took too long, though, because the next thing I knew Sasuke and Shikamaru both stepped forward, guarding me, and Sasuke answered, "No, she doesn't accept."

For some reason having someone else answer for me irritated me, and it also helped me to decide what to do. Stepping forward, I moved between the two boys trying to protect me and I stared at Gaara. "Don't listen to them," I told him, knowing my friends were staring at me. "I appreciate your support guys, but I don't have a right to back down from a challenge I set, whether I did it intentionally or not."

"You're in no shape to fight," I heard Ino say, and realized that she'd moved back into the bushes, hiding there with Sakura.

"That's not the point," I said.

Gaara grinned, and immediately got int a fighting stance, giving me his death glare. When the only response he got for it was a sigh, he raised an eyebrow, but didn't change his stance. "Come on."

"I'm ready," I replied, knowing it was a lie, but facing him anyways. With a nod acknowledging Shikamaru and Sasuke as they backed off for the time being, I got into a defensive stance, knowing I was going to lose this fight, but not willing to do a thing about it expect try to put up a good fight.

A wall of sand rose quickly to create a solid force I couldn't penetrate, whether I wanted to or not. I'm not suicidal, I wanted to bust through it, to evade it, anything, but a part of me found it magnificent to behold. Unfortunately, none of the tings my friends had taught me to this point were viable now, for more than one reason. First of all, Sasuke's fire jutsu wouldn't do me any good, but they would probably benefit Gaara's sand, which I didn't like the sound of. Then there was Naruto's Kage Bunshin technique, and I glanced at the unconscious boy lying in the dirt. I couldn't use that attack either, though, because Naruto needed that attack later to defeat Gaara. If Gaara knew about that attack beforehand he could probably stop my friend from beating him. That led me to Sakura, and her chakra training. It also led to why I couldn't use any jutsu at all, not just the one's previously mentioned. I was completely drained of chakra. Not a happy prospect considering my current situation, but there it was.

A shout caught my attention and I jerked my head up, forcing myself to concentrate back on the fight. The shout had been Sasuke noticing me tune out from the world, and I was glad he had brought me back because at that moment Gaara completed his wall of sand and prepared to attack with it.

For the sake of their lives I was glad my friends realized not to step in between Gaara and me, although if they had it would have save me quite a bit of grief. The wall took on the properties of a tidal wave as it came rushing towards me.

Nothing prepared me for what came next. As I stared at the sand crashing towards me the world went black, if only for an instant. When it cleared again I was standing on a beach, watching the waves. Somehow, thoughts of my impending danger vanished from my mind as I listened to the soft crashing of the waves, heard the seagulls, and knew I was safe here.

A voice called my name, my old name, and I turned my head, still answering to it although I hadn't heard it in so long.

The woman standing in front of me now was smiling, hands on her hips, admiring me. For the life of me I couldn't remember who she was, but the softly curling red hair, the sweetness of her blue eyes, the way she extended her hands to me after a moment gave me cause to think she reminded me of someone. As if compelled, I walks into her arms, and a warmth spread through me as those arms wrapped around me in a hug. "You look beautiful," she told me, and her voice, her words opened something inside of me.

I suddenly knew where I was: the beach in San Diego where my family vacationed every Spring. I was wearing the bathing suit I had bought with my best friend a week before, a two piece white bikini that covered more than the average person covered, but made me comfortable, and bottoms of white as well with hot pink ties on the sides. To complete the outfit, I wore a see through pink wrap and pink sandals. My mom hadn't been around when I'd bought it though, she'd been away on a business trip for two weeks, and this was the first time she was seeing it. In fact, she had just arrived at our vacation spot, a day late, and I was the first person she had come to see.

I smiled, though tears welled in my eyes. "Mom," I whispered, unable to believe that I could actually see her face. Finally, I could see her completely. Then she began to fade. "No!" I yelled, not wanting to lose her again, not wanting to lose that feeling of pure love, love that could not be shaken. But Fate appeared to have other plans for me.

When I opened my eyes this time, I was laying on my side in the Forest of Death, in extreme pain both physically and emotionally.

It was Ino's voice that brought me back to coherent thought. "Caruh!" she yelled, and I looked up at the clouds. At least, I thought they were clouds when I first looked up, but as my vision cleared I realized it was her hair waving in the slight breeze.

I couldn't believe I had gotten that so wrong, but before I could dwell on my mistake for long I heard a shout from nearby and my head jerked that way. Bad idea. As soon as I moved pain racked through my body, causing me to gasp.

"Oh Caruh," Ino said, and I carefully turned my head to look at her again, realizing she was directly above me. "I'm so glad you're alright," she went on, tears in her eyes. She was shaking, I could see it and feel it. That was when I realized my head was resting in her lap.

"I'm fine, Ino," I told her, although I knew it was a lie. "What's going on over there?"

"Shikamaru and Sasuke are fighting Gaara," she explained. She looked ready to say more when she was cut off.

"When the sand barrier hit you it threw you a few feet," Sakura explained in a rush. "You were on the ground, bleeding, and obviously unconscious, but Gaara was preparing another attack to finish you off anyways. There was something dangerous in his eyes! Shikamaru and Sasuke-"

"Shikamaru and Sasuke jumped in to fight him off of you while I got you out of there and Sakura grabbed Naruto to get you both to safety," Ino continued, cutting Sakura off happily and ignoring the other girl's glare. They seemed insistent upon interrupting each other.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The fact that Gaara had tried to continue attacking me when I was already unconscious didn't surprise me nearly as much as learning Sasuke and Shikamaru had stepped between us. Perhaps it shouldn't have surprised me so much that they cared about me like that, but for some reason it did. It didn't help that I knew what Gaara was capable of, while they were only just beginning to be able to imagine.

Slowly, carefully, I turned my head again, tuning out the bickering that the girls around me had reduced themselves to. From where I was, back in the bushes, I could see the flashes of red hair, and dark hair, as the dark haired shinobi teamed up against the Suna-nin. They seemed to be gaining ground too. Then I saw Gaara's infamous Sand Coffin begin to form around them and I screamed, unable to stop myself. The piercing sound caused everything around me to almost freeze.

The three boys ceased fighting, their movements stopping in an instant, as they turned to look towards me. Shikamaru and Sasuke were crouching in trees, ready to spring into attack, while Gaara was on the ground below them with his arm up, ready to finish his attack. Even Sakura and Ino stopped arguing to glance at me. I just stared at Gaara, willing him to stop, pleading with my eyes, my mind, anything I thought might get through to him.

Gradually, he lowered his arm, looking straight at me. The sand fell back to the earth where it belonged, or returned to his gourd, I wasn't quite sure which. At that moment a feminine gasp sounded from somewhere nearby, reminding me that Temari and Kankuro were still close. More than likely, neither of them had ever seen their brother stop an attack before, for any reason, so I couldn't even begin to understand how strange this must be to them.

There was no time to think anymore, though, because Gaara was walking towards me. In order to keep Ino and Sakura out of harms way I forced myself to roll to my side and push myself into a sitting position. "Ino, go with Sakura to Shikamaru and Sasuke. I'm sure they're as willing to protect you as they were me. I'll cover Naruto," I told her, making my tone demanding so she would be less likely to argue.

Whimpering slightly in fear she nodded, grabbing Sakura's wrist and dragging her away. Sakura went willingly with her to the boys, who had yet to decide what they should do. I chose for them.

Facing Gaara alone now, except for the unconscious Naruto, I almost wished I had asked Ino to stay and fight with me instead of sending her off with Sakura. The pain in my body was so immense I could barely focus. My vision blurred in and out. I couldn't twitch without feeling like someone was stabbing a knife in me and twisting.

He stopped in front of me, and I think the only reason that Shikamaru and Sasuke hadn't abandoned their new charges already was because he hadn't done anything threatening yet. That didn't mean they weren't ready to move if that changed. I assumed that when one friend was in danger, two who were not didn't rate as high on the priority list.

It was a comforting thought.

I stared at Gaara when he stopped about three feet in front of me. "You are strange," he told me, "but unique. I have never met anyone like you before, and I want a chance to fight the girl that let off that killer energy. Once you are completely healed we shall fight again."

I nodded a few times, curious as to how I would fare when at my best as well.

"In order for there to be any chance of that happening soon, I need you to pass this exam. So tell me, which scroll did you start out with?" he asked, and at the time I couldn't figure out what he was getting at.

That didn't stop me from telling him. "We were given the Heaven Scroll to start with." Before I could think I felt something drop into my lap. Looking down at it my eyes went wide with shock.

The Earth Scroll.

I looked up at Gaara again. I hadn't even seen him move, but then again my eyes were still struggling to focus. He nodded to me once and vanished in a swirl of sand. A slight rustling in the trees nearby told me Temari and Kankuro had gone with him. Gaara had literally just given us the pass we needed to get into the third exam.

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**So, it's been over a year. Was it worth it? I really hope so, I tried hard to make this chapter fun and exciting, with a bit of action thrown in there as well. So much stuff at once, and the next chapter will be out by July 15th, on my honor, okay guys? I'll prove it's worth something. Hope you enjoyed what I have written so far!! Keep coming back!**


	14. An Ending, With a New Beginning

Okay, guys... I know I have no right to do this and it's been nearly two years, but I'm abandoning this account. I found someone to take over Otaku, but Rose is probably going to die in cyber-space. I'll see about that one, but I don't have high hopes. Anyway, I have consigned it to loralii, so if you would like to read what she does or continues with it please contact her or read it as she posts it.

I really am sorry guys, I know I let you down but I have stopped enjoying fanfiction and so have stopped writing it. I'll leave the original chapters here, and she has decided maybe it would be better to edit but not entirely change the story. I hope you all like what she does with it, but I will never be back to my account so send all of your love her way if you still enjoy this story or want to see where it goes.

Good bye all. I wish I could have done better by you, but this is all that's left. Thank you for your support through the years. Good luck and love to you all!


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